Saturday, September 27, 2025

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on October 2nd, 2025

Buckingham Nicks, the long-out-of-print eponymous 1973 LP from Lindsey Buckingam and Stevie Nicks' pre-Fleetwood Mac days has debuted at No. 3 on Billboard's Top Album Sales chart for the week ending Sept. 25. Originally issued through Polydor, Buckingham Nicks has been out of circulation (though widely bootlegged) until its official remastered Rhino Records reissue on Sept. 19, making its debut on CD, vinyl, streaming services and as a digital download through Rhino. Buckingham Nicks sold 30,000 copies in the U.S., making it the biggest sales week in over a decade for any album by Buckingham, Nicks or Fleetwood Mac. Further, with 18,000 copies sold on vinyl, the album notches the largest sales week in the format in the modern era for any project by Buckingham, Nicks or Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham Nicks also arrived on the Top Rock Albums chart, Indie Store Album Sales, Catalog Albums (No. 1 on each); Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Vinyl Albums (No. 2); and the Billboard Hot 200 (No. 11). Upon the album's reissue, Buckingham and Nicks shared on their respective Instagram accounts: "We're so happy this album is getting a second life. We hope you love it." - Billboard, 10/2/25...... Kevin CroninThe classic REO Speedwagon lineup of frontman Keven Cronin and bassist Bruce Hall reunited on Sept. 27 to perform with the University of Illinois marching band at Champaign Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill. The Midwestern classic rockers announced their breakup in Sept. 2024, citing "irreconcilable differences" between Cronin and Hall and played their final live shows together in Dec. 2024. REO Speedwagon had formed in Champaign in 1966, though Cronin and Hall were not original members. The pair played the halftime show for the University Of Illinois' homecoming game against USC, and joined by two founding members, keyboardist Neal Doughty and drummer Alan Gratzer. Doughty retired from touring commitments with REO in 2023, and Gratzer departed the line-up in 1988. Marking the first time that all four members had performed together since Gratzer's exit, the musicians joined hundreds of members of the Marching Illini band, treating the crowd to "Ridin' The Storm Out," "Roll With The Changes" and "157 Riverside Avenue." Interviewed by a local radio station, the quartet said they were "a little out of our comfort zone" playing with "400 people, extra, in the band" -- referring to the Marching Illini. Gratzer said that being back with his former bandmates was "special, and it makes me happy". When pressed on whether this would be their final appearance together, the band teased: "You never know." The Champaign performance can be viewed on YouTube, as well as the video interview. - New Musical Express, 10/1/25...... The new Aerosmith and Youngblud collaboration "My Only Angel" has blasted to the top of Billboard's Hot Hard Rock Songs chart dated Oct. 4. With 2 million official streams, 1.4 million radio audience impressions, and 5,000 song sales in the US, the song earns Aerosmith its first No. 1 on Hot Hard Rock Songs, and the second for English singer/actor Yungblud. In addition to its chart-topping Hot Hard Rock Songs debut, "My Only Angel" bowed at No. 20 on the Hot Rock Songs chart and No. 23 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs. "My Only Angel," which can be streamed on YouTube as a lyric video, is the first taste of the pair's new joint EP, One More Time, due Nov. 21. Among the five tracks is "Back in the Saddle (2025 Mix)," a new mix of Aerosmith's original song that reached No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977. One More Time marks Aerosmith's first new material since its 2012 album, Music From Another Dimension! - Billboard, 9/30/25...... The trailer for the new Ozzy Osbourne BBC documentary Coming Home has been shared on YouTube. The touching preview includes a gallery of love notes Ozzy wrote for wife Sharon over the years. Set to debut on the BBC One and iPlayer Oct. 2, Coming Home chronicles Ozzy and wife/manager Sharon Osbourne's long-held dream of returning to their native England after years spent living in Los Angeles. And, in the wake of Ozzy's death on July 22 at 76-years-old, it's also the first chance Ozzy fans will get to see the Prince of Darkness off stage in the years before his passing, hanging with his family and being a jokey cut-up in his inimitable fashion. In a throwback to the warts-and-all silliness of the family's legendary MTV reality show, The Osbournes, Coming Home appears to lean into the domestic comedy of the Osbourne clan, opening with a jittery Ozzy begging Sharon to stop driving in a herky-jerky manner. The film covering the final three years of Ozzy's life was originally slated to air on Aug. 18 before the BBC pulled it from its schedule at the last minute per the family's request. The initial air date would have been less than a month after Ozzy's death, which came two weeks after the rock icon performed his final show, the all-star "Back to the Beginning" Black Sabbath farewell concert, at his home soccer stadium, Villa Park, in his hometown of Birmingham, England. Coming Home will air five days before another emotional movie covering Ozzy's final years, Ozzy: No Escape From Now, which premieres on Paramount+ on Oct. 7. That doc will follow Ozzy in the six years before his death and feature Sharon, as well as their children, Aimee, Jack and Kelly Osbourne, describing the devastating effects of a late-night fall Ozzy suffered in Feb. 2019 that forced the cancellation of his planned two-and-a-half-year farewell tour. - Billboard, 10/1/25...... YusufYusuf/Cat Stevens' Peace Train derailed on Sept. 29 when the iconic '70s singer/songwriter announced that his scheduled upcoming North American tour has been postponed due to visa issues in the U.S., adding future dates will be "some time away." "Sadly, my Cat on the Road to Findout Book Tour in the U.S. and Canada looks like it won't go ahead as scheduled in October," Yusuf posted to Instagram. "Waiting months for visa approvals, we held out as long as we could. However, at this point, the production logistics necessary for my show cannot be arranged in time," he wrote. "I am really upset! Not least for my fans who have bought tickets and made travel plans to see me perform. North American audiences may still get a chance to see the tour if visa approvals eventually come through. Those dates would be some time away because of other travel tour plans but, hopefully, fans will be able to hop on the Peace Train route at some time in the future," he added. He added that "tour delays should not affect the book, which you'll still be able to enjoy the obvious benefit of it being -- books don't need visas! Yusuf did not say specifically what the visa issues involve, although there has been a reported slowdown in processing visa applications due to the Donald Trump administration's slow-walking of the process, which has resulted in a number of overseas acts cancelling or postponing tours in 2025 and the loss of millions in revenue for Latin artists due to the White House's immigration crackdown. Yusuf's "Cat On the Road to Findout" tour, announced in May, was scheduled to kick off Oct. 2 in Philadelphia and conclude Oct. 22 in Los Angeles. His new memoir, Cat On The Road To Findout, is set to be published Oct. 7. In the tour, Yusuf planned to host in-depth conversations about his new memoir, which chronicles his evolution from chart-topping pop star to spiritual seeker, according to his website. The evening would also feature select acoustic performances of of his songs. - Deadline.com, 9/29/25...... In a new interview with the UK paper The Sun's Bizarre column, Ronnie Wood revealed that a new Rolling Stones album is "done" and set for release in 2026. Rumours about the iconic band working on new material arose earlier this summer, and then got new momentum in September when producer Andrew Watt revealed that he had been working with Wood, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to help them make an upcoming album. During an event at the Stones' flagship RS No.9 shop in Carnaby Street, Wood told the a reporter for The Sun: "Yes you will be getting a new album next year. It is done." At the event, where the guitarist was signing copies of his new double anthology album Fearless, Wood also suggested that the band were planning on hitting the road again. "Yes we are hoping to do some dates. Hopefully we will be back out there but I am still waiting to find out myself," he noted. Keith Richards' son, Marlon, also recently confirmed that the band had been working on a new album, and described it as being "nearly done." Andrew Watt, who has produced for the likes of Elton John, Lady Gaga and Ed Sheeran, teamed up with the group on their last album, the Grammy-winning 24th studio LP Hackney Diamonds in 2023. - NME, 9/30/25...... Paul McCartney kicked off his 2025 US tour on Sept. 26 at the Santa Barbara Bowl in California with a relatively-intimate performance that delighted the 4,500 fans in attendance with a surprise rendition of the Beatles 1965 classic "Help!" The last time "Help!" was performed in its entirety was by the Beatles themselves in Wales on Dec. 12, 1965, while Paul previously included a minute-long snippet of the song in a medley which paid tribute to late bandmate John Lennon on his 1989 and 1990 "Flowers in the Dirt" tour. Fans were required to store their phones in secure pouches during the Sept. 26 show, so no video footage of the performance has emerged online, though some footage of Sir Paul singing "Help!" during the soundcheck has been captured on social media. On Sept. 29, Macca received the neon salutation of "Welcome to the desert, Paul" when he performed in Palm Desert, Calif. "Good evening, Palm Springs," a smiling McCartney said to resounding cheers, applause and a standing ovation inside the packed Acrisure Arena. "I've got a feeling I'm going to have fun here tonight," he said, again performing "Help!" and such other Beatles classics including "Got to Get You into My Life," "Drive My Car," "Getting Better," "Love Me Do," "Let It Be," Hey Jude," "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and a particularly poignant "Blackbird," a song he wrote about the Civil Rights Movement in America. After nearly three hours of nonstop singing, playing guitar and the piano plus delivering a rousing four-song encore, the 83-year-old McCartney signed off with "We'll see you next time." - Music-News.com/Billboard, 9/30/25..... Def Leppard is set to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Oct. 9 at 11:30 a.m. PT. The UK hard rockers' star is located at 1750 N. Vine St., in front of the historic Capitol Records building. Jon Bon Jovi Universal Music CEO Bruce Resnikoff will speak at the event, which will be emceend by Sirius XM radio personality Bob Buchmann. "The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce is proud to welcome Def Leppard to the Hollywood Walk of Fame," Ana Martinez, Walk of Fame producer, said in a statement." Def Leppard has earned a permanent place not only in music history, but now on one of the most famous sidewalks in the world." Def Leppard were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019 (on their first nomination), with Queen's Brian May doing the honors. Def Leppard's star will be the 2,825th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which was founded in 1960 and administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Millions of people have visited the cultural landmark since its beginning. - Billboard, 9/29/25...... Nancy WilsonIn a recent interview with WJFF Radio Catskill, Heart's Nancy Wilson revealed that The Beatles were the biggest inspiration on her and sister Nancy Wilson growing up. Nancy quipped that they went at it like "military brats" and "took no prisoners." "We never walked into this thinking, like, 'We wanna break a glass ceiling.' We were just driven -- because The Beatles came out when we were little kids, and The Beatles just drove us to our calling," she said. "It was just like we were aimed like a pistol from the minute We already had music in our family -- lots of singing and playing piano and harmony singing and ukuleles and aunts and uncles and grandparents -- so we had all the gifts given to us in a musical family just to go straight into music with, and the calling was loud and clear. But the fact that we were women didn't even register in our minds at the beginning. We were just little kids, so we had no sexual identity to conform to at the beginning. So we just went ahead, like the military brats that we are -- we just joined forces and took no prisoners. [Laughs]." The Wilson sisters co-founded Heart in the early 1970s, with the band officially forming in 1973 and releasing their debut album Dreamboat Annie in 1975. Blending hard rock, folk, and powerful vocals, Heart quickly rose to prominence, becoming one of the first female-led rock bands to achieve major commercial success. Over the decades, they've sold over 35 million records worldwide and earned a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. - Music-News.com, 9/30/25...... Bruce Springsteen gave a surprise performance of "Land Of Hope And Dreams" after a screening of his new Deliver Me From Nowhere biopic at the New York Film Festival's Alice Tully Hall on Sept. 28. The Boss thanked actor Jeremy Allen White for "playing a much better-looking version of me" in the film, as well as thespian Jeremy Strong, who he quipped played "a much, much better-looking version" of his manager Jon Landau. After the screening, Springsteen took to the stage for an impromptu performance of "Land Of Hope And Dreams," a song that became a regular presence in his sets in the early 2000s. He also turned his sights to the Donald Trump administration, something he has done many times in recent months. "These days we have daily events reminding us of the fact that we're living through these particularly dangerous times," he said. "I spent my life on the road, I've been moving around the world as kind of a musical ambassador for America, trying to measure the distance between American reality, where we've often fallen short of our ideals of the American dream." He continued: "But for a lot of folks out there, she continues to be a land of hope and dreams, not of fear or divisiveness or government censorship or hatred. That America's worth fighting for. So it's in that spirit I brought along my lifelong weapon of choice, my guitar." Footage of his "Land Of Hope And Dreams" performance can be viewed on YouTube, as well as the offical trailer for Deliver Me From Nowhere, which arrives in theaters in the U.S. on Oct. 24. - NME, 9/29/25...... Lionel Richie opens up about the headline-making "disastrous" fight between his first and second wives that occurred 37 years ago in his new memoir Truly. Back in June 1988, Brenda Harvey was arrested and faced charges of trespassing, vandalism, battery, and disturbing the peace after she found the music superstar at Diane Alexander's apartment in Beverly Hills. The charges were later dropped. Reflecting on the incident, Richie labelled the shocking brawl as the "scandal of my century" and that it was hard seeing the "disastrous" scandal play out in the press. "And I get it. Ladies and gentlemen, I get it," the 76-year-old laments. "That's the saddest day in the life of a marriage. When you know you may love each other, still, and you have a history that you will always have, but it's over. And you know it." Richie has been in a relationship with Lisa Parigi since 2014. - Music-News.com, 10/1/25...... On Sept. 28 Dolly Parton took to Instagram to announced she was postponing her upcoming Las Vegas residency to 2026 over "health challenges." "As many of you know, I have been dealing with some health challenges, and my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures," the 79-year-old country/pop legend wrote. "As I joked with them, it must be time for my 100,000-mile check-up, although it's not the usual trip to see my plastic surgeon! In all seriousness, given this, I am not going to be able to rehearse and put together the show that I want you to see, and the show that you deserve to see. You pay good money to see me perform, and I want to be at my best for you."While I'll still be able to work on all of my projects from here in Nashville, I just need a little time to get show ready, as they say." Dolly went on to assure fans that she's not planning on retiring yet: "Don't worry about me quittin' the business because God hasn't said anything about stopping yet. But, I believe He is telling me to slow down right now so I can be ready for more big adventures with all of you." Parton said her new dates will take place in Sept. 2026, and that all tickets that have already been purchased for December will be honored for the 2026 dates. - NME, 9/29/25...... Tina TurnerA 10-foot statue of rock n' roll queen Tina Turner was unveiled on Sept. 27 in the rural Tennessee community where she grew up. The statue in honor of the Grammy-winning singer, electrifying stage performer, and one of the world's most recognizable and popular entertainers was revealed during a ceremony at a park in Brownsville near a museum honoring Turner and located about an hour drive east of Memphis. The unveiling was part of the 10th-annual Tina Turner Heritage Days, a celebration of her life growing up in rural Tennessee, before she moved away as a teenager. The city of about 9,000 people is near Nutbush, the community where Turner went to school as a child. As a teen, she attended high school just steps from where the statue now stands. The statue shows Turner with her signature wild hairdo and holding a microphone, as if she was singing on stage. The statue was sculpted in clay by Fred Ajanogha and cast in bronze, and it took about a year to complete. Ajanogha said he tried to capture the star's flexibility of movement on stage, how she held the microphone with her index finger extended, and her hair style, which he compared to the "mane of a lion." After teaming with first husband Ike Turner for hit records and live shows in the 1960s and '70s, Turner survived her troubled marriage to succeed in middle age with 1984's chart-topping "What's Love Got To Do With It" in one of the most amazing comebacks in show business history. She died on May 24, 2023 at age 83 after a long illness in her home in Ksnacht near Zurich, Switzerland. - Billboard, 9/27/25...... Jane Goodall, a world-renowned expert on chimpanzees whose work was captured in more than 40 documentaries, died on Oct. 1 in California during her latest tour of the U.S. She was 91 and died of natural causes. "The Jane Goodall Institute has learned this morning, Wednesday, October 1, 2025, that Dr. Jane Goodall DBE, UN Messenger of Peace and Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute has passed away due to natural causes. She was in California as part of her speaking tour in the United States," a statement issued by the institute said. Ms. Goodall had been set to speak in Los Angeles at UCLA on Oct. 3, and her work was covered in detail in the 2017 documentary Jane, assembled from 140 hours of footage that had been hidden in National Geographic's archives. It won two Primetime Emmys and several other awards. The British primatologist was also the subject of more than 40 documentaries from National Geographic, Animal Planet, Disneynature and more. Most recently, the 2023 Imax film Jane Goodall: Reasons for Hope explored her habitat restoration projects. On the lighter side, he also lent her voice to animated shows including The Simpsons and "The Wild Thornberries. Born in Hampstead, London, she traveled to Kenya in 1957 and soon began working with the noted anthropologist Louis S.B Leakey. Her 1960 discovery that chimpanzees were able to make and use tools revolutionized the field of primatology. She founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977 to support research on great apes, and also established Roots and Shoots, a youth program, and TACARE, which focused on sustainable development in African villages. Ms. Goodall went on to tour the world with numerous speaking dates each year, speaking on conservation, climate change and animal behavior. - Variety.com, 10/1/25.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor revealed their iconic band won't be wrapping things up any time soon as they currently celebrate the 50th anniversary of their signature hit "Bohemian Rhapsody." "I don't think we're done," Taylor said. "And I don't think we're gonna say, you know, final farewell tour or whatever. 'Cause it never is, is it?" Reality talent TV show winner Adam Lambert took over as frontman for the band 2011, most recently playing with the rock legends on their huge "Rhapsody Tour," which concluded in Tokyo in 2024. In the same interview, May went on to reveal that Queen have worked on new music with Lambert, though they're not sure it will go anywhere. "Not many people know, but Adam and we have been in the studio trying things. Nothing really materialised so far. Some things are meant to be and some things are not." He then added that the band have considered bringing their live show to The Sphere in Las Vegas. "I'm very keen on the Sphere. It's got my mind working," he said. In other Queen news, Brian May recently opened up about his fears that he would never play guitar again following suffering a stroke last year. Meanwhile, in 2024 Queen released a newly mixed, mastered and expanded reissue of their 1973 self-titled debut album. - New Musical Express, 9/25/25...... John LennonThe glasses worn by John Lennon during his fabled "Lost Weekend" period living in Los Angeles for 18 months between 1973 and 1975 are among the main items currently up for auction at Propstore's Music Memorabilia Live Auction in London. One of the most recognizable personal items of the legendary late Beatles founder, the glasses are estimated to fetch between £148,000-£297,000 ($198,000-$396,000). "Never known as a violent person and more famous for his involvement with the peace movement, John Lennon's glasses came to market due to a scuffle with Tom Smothers at the Troubadour Club in Los Angeles," revealed Propstore's Mark Hochman. "After the incident, Smothers' wife collected the glasses, phoned her friends, and hosted a party where, apparently, guests were thrilled to wear John's trademark glasses. There's full photographic documentation that shows Lennon entering the Troubadour on 12 March 1974, and leaving without them." Lennon's notorious "Lost Weekend" period came after he separated from his second wife, Yoko Ono, whom he married in 1969. The couple reunited and remained married until his death in 1980. The Propstore Memorabilia Auction brings together some of the most significant pieces of music history, from stage-used guitars and handwritten lyrics to iconic wardrobe and personal artifacts. - Music-News.com, 9/26/25...... In other Lennon-related news, John and Yoko's son Sean Ono Lennon recently told BBC Radio 6 Music host Chris Hawkins that his dad "resented having to be a Beatle" in the end. "I think there's a bit of a myth about that," Sean, 49, said when asked about the period including the pair of "One to One" benefit concerts in 1972 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. "[But] I don't feel that he'd fallen out of love with music. I think he'd fallen out of love with a certain kind of fame. I think he'd fallen out of love with having to be a part of a machinery, of a pop machine, you know. I think that was -- even though he was always rebellious within that framework, I think that he still resented, you know, having to be a Beatle in a way. I think he really wanted to move on from that, you know," Sean added. Sean believes his father struggled when John and Yoko's as the Plastic Ono Band's 1972 double album, Some Time in New York City, flopped and was annihilated by critics. He added: "I think there were some growing pains, you know. And by growing pains, I just simply mean he made a record with my mum that people didn't necessarily like Some Time in New York City, you know. I think the songs are really great. I just think they're less manicured than what people were used to. You know, they were clearly recorded impulsively and quickly. And I think that was the rock and roll spirit. It was almost like a punk, a proto-punk kind of spirit. But I don't think people were ready for that, paired with how heavily political the messaging was. But it still -- I think when it didn't sell, I think that was hard for them." Sean is currently promoting the forthcoming new John Lennon Power To The People box set, which includes the Madison Square Garden concerts and a wealth of unreleased songs from the same period as Some Time in New York City. - Music-News.com, 9/26/25...... In a new Time magazine cover story published on Sept. 25, Bruce Springsteen says he isn't going to shy away from criticizing his arch-nemesis Pres. Donald Trump. "I'm going to stay true to who I've tried to be -- I can't give these guys a free pass," he said about speaking out about Trump back in May as he kicked off the European leg of his "Land of Hope and Dreams Tour." During that set, the 20-time Grammy winner slammed the president, saying that the United States was "currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration." (His speech was included in The Land of Hope and Dreams EP, which arrived in May.) Two days after Springsteen shared his stance about the current occupant of the White House on stage, Trump responded to the insult on his Truth Social platform, calling the Boss a "jerk" who's "not talented" and "dumb as a rock," then warned the musician to "KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country." But Springsteen -- who endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in the 2024 election -- told Time he "couldn't care less" what the twice-impeached president thinks of him. "He's the living personification of what the 25th Amendment and impeachment were for," he said. (The 25th Amendment refers to the removal of the president from office.) "If Congress had any guts, he'd be consigned to the trash heap of history." Springsteen went on to say that "a lot of people bought into [Trump's] lies," and yet, he added, "[The president] doesn't care about the forgotten anybody but himself and the multibillionaires who stood behind him on Inauguration Day. You have to face the fact that a good number of Americans are simply comfortable with his politics of power and dominance." Meanwhile, an expanded 5-disc edition of his celebrated 1982 album Nebraska arrives on Oct. 12. Nebraska '82: Expanded Edition will include never-before-heard material, the E Street Band's "Electric Nebraska" sessions, a previously unreleased version of "Born in the U.S.A." and much more. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, the film about the making of Nebraska and starring The Bear's Jeremy Allen White as the Boss, arrives in theaters Oct. 24. - Billboard, 9/25/25...... Robert PlantIn a new interview with the UK's The Sun paper, Robert Plant said he isn't interested in being "a big deal any more." The former Led Zeppelin frontman is currently making music with a group of acoustic performers called Saving Grace and says he loves the lack of "stress" in their collaboration because the 77-year-old singer is only interested in doing things that are "worth" it, regardless of the size of the project. "I can't say I have the ambition to be a big deal any more. Because I've been in so many big deal situations... I've walked away from so many situations. At this time in my life, it has to be something really worth doing -- I don't just want to be hanging on," Plant remarked, adding "These are great people. I see Saving Grace as a beautiful, no stress, no bludgeoning thing. There were no big announcements when we started." Recalling his days with Zeppelin, Plant said fronting the band was "a very precarious and sensitive place to be -- and overwhelming." "Ego played a part but it was so momentary," he said. "Mostly, it was fear of being in that position. If any of us four guys weren't on it, where would we have been? There was nowhere to hide in those days and we didn't have a support structure behind us." Plant also recalled how difficult he found it when he first went solo after the band split in the wake of Led Zep drummer John Bonham in 1980: "It was such a head warp for me to imagine myself without the other three guys." He knew regardless of the musicians who appeared on his solo records "the critique would be, 'Well, he's not a Jimmy Page, is he?'" With Saving Grace and singer Suzi Dian, Plant has been playing a reworked version of "As I Roved Out," which includes the line: "The green, green grass/Trampled underfoot/Will rise and bloom again." The lyric "gives a nod" to LZ's 1975 Physical Graffiti track "Trampled Under Foot," and Plant admitted he has done similar "a few times over the years." He added: "Every time I sing that line, I smile. And I know Suzi hasn't got a clue why I'm smiling." - Music-News.com, 9/26/25....... Van Morrison's classic 1970 track "Into the Mystic," which is featured in the season's fifth episode of the Amazon Prime TV series The Summer I Turned Pretty, has topped Billboard's Top TV Songs Chart. "Into the Mystic," featured in the season's fifth episode (Aug. 6), racked up 10.3 million official on-demand U.S. streams and sold 2,000 downloads in August, according to Luminate. The Summer I Turned Pretty's recent dominance on the TV songs chart began in July, with the show snagging eight of the 10 positions, paced by Chappell Roan's "Hot To Go!," on that month's chart. The series' third and final season premiered July 16. - Billboard, 9/25/25...... Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford has revealed he married his longtime partner late in 2024 in a "beautiful, simple" poolside ceremony. Halford told Scissor Sisters singer Jake Shears on his Queer the Music podcast that after years of putting it off the couple finally made it official in a small, private ceremony last year. "We got married by the cactus outside on December the something or other, about a year or so ago," Halford, 74 said. "He's [Thomas] from Alabama. Extremely conservative. I stopped asking, 'Let's get married.' 'No, I don't want to get married.' 'Oh, let's just get married. We've been together forever.' 'No, I don't want to get married.'" Halford added that despite living in the U.S. for a long and seeing some progress, he still finds the country "incredibly homophobic." "America is still incredibly homophobic," said Halford. "I've lived here for a long time and I've seen a lot happen since the '80s. And really it gets me angry and upset, but when I go on stage and perform with Priest, some guys will say, 'I love Judas Priest, but I'm not gay.' You know that thing -- 'I'm a huge fan of Priest, but I'm not a gay guy' -- that still lives with me now to some extent. It might be a fraction." Halford hailed the great strides the LBGTQ community has made over the past half-century, but said there is much more work still to be done. He said we have a way to go until everyone can pick up on the message to, "Love everybody, not be judgmental, let people live their lives how they see fit for themselves. There should be no rules on how you look and how you speak and how you dress. All that should be an open book, because that's what love is." Halford's full Queer the Music interview can be streamed on YouTube. - Billboard, 9/25/25...... A Missouri woman has been sentenced to prison over a bizarre fraud scheme to auction off Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tenn. On Sept. 23, Lisa Jeanine Findley, 54, was ordered by Judge John T. Fowlkes Jr. to serve four years and nine months over the brazen scam, in which she used a fake company and forged documents to try to conduct a foreclosure sale of the legendary Memphis home. The outlandish scheme, which befuddled media outlets and officials alike in May 2024, centered on Findley's false claims that Presley's daughter Lisa Marie Presley had pledged Graceland as collateral for a loan before her sudden 2023 death. "Fame and money are magnets for criminals who look to capitalize on another person's celebrity status," said Eric Shen of the United States Postal Inspection Service, which investigated the scheme. "Ms. Findley took advantage of the very public and tragic occurrences in the Presley family as an opportunity to prey on the name and financial status of the heirs to the Graceland estate." Findley pleaded guilty in February to a single charge of mail fraud as part of a plea deal that saw prosecutors drop a charge of aggravated identity theft. In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Fowlkes ordered the woman to serve three years of probation after her release. When Elvis died in 1977, Lisa Marie inherited his estate, including Graceland -- a tourist mecca that pulls in millions a year in revenue. But in early 2024, a mysterious foreclosure notice claimed the mansion would be auctioned off to the highest bidder. It said Lisa Marie, who died suddenly in Jan. 2023, had failed to repay a 2018 loan of $3.8 million -- and that she had posted the iconic building as security. Actress Riley Keough, Lisa Marie's daughter, who had inherited control of Graceland, quickly filed a lawsuit to stop the sale, claiming the estate had been the victim of a fraud scheme. She argued that her mother had never borrowed the money and that the paperwork surrounding the phony loan was a forgery. Almost immediately, a judge issued an injunction blocking any auction. Months later, Findley was arrested and charged with orchestrating the entire scam. Prosecutors said she used phony companies (Naussany Investments and Private Lending) and fake names (Kurt Naussany, Lisa Howell and others) and had threatened to go through with the sale unless the estate settled by paying $2.8 million. - Billboard, 9/24/25...... Priscilla PresleyIn other Elvis-related news, the King's ex-wife Priscilla Presley has been candid about her disapproval of daughter Lisa Marie's relationship with Michael Jackson in her new memoir Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis, saying their brief marriage in the '90s "appalled" her. The late Lisa Marie, the only daughter of Elvis and Priscilla, married Jackson in 1994, and the two remained married for around two years, finalizing their divorce in Aug. 1996. In her book, Priscilla recalled asking Lisa Marie, who died at the age of 54 in 2023, if she and Jackson "had a physical relationship," according to an excerpt published by The Sun tabloid. "Like so many people, I wasn't sure," she wrote. "She said yeah. I was appalled by the marriage. I knew in my bones that Michael wasn't marrying Lisa Marie; he was marrying the Presley dynasty." In Lisa Marie's own posthumous memoir, From Here To The Great Unknown, she claimed that he was "still a virgin" when they began dating, at which time Jackson was around 35 years old. Priscilla went on to claim Jackson saw a relationship with Lisa Marie as "good publicity" amid accusations of sexual abuse that first emerged in 1993, the year before their marriage. "Michael was a manipulative man," Priscilla said. "And I think he had his sights set on her long before she realised it. The childlike innocence he projected was part of his public mask." When the two eventually divorced, Priscilla recalled that she "could practically hear Elvis sigh with relief." - NME, 9/22/25...... To mark the re-release of her and former partner Lindsey Buckingham's 1973 album Buckingham Nicks, Stevie Nicks has shared an unearthed letter sent to her parents before the peak of her fame. On Sept. 22, Nicks took to Instagram share the handwritten note with fans, saying: "I wanted to share this letter I wrote to my family while Lindsey and I were making 'Buckingham Nicks'. My mom saved it and it's been in a drawer for over 50 years." In the letter, penned on stationery from California's Sound City Studios, Nicks began her letter by joking about "getting very tired of sitting around listening to 12 hours of music per day." Addressing her mother, father, and brother Chris, she said: "I know it will pay off in the end," adding that when she one day was sitting in her "small but luxurious Beverly Hills home," it would "all be worth it." After checking her family were doing OK, she moved onto her imminent 25th birthday, declaring they "should set aside the entire month of May to celebrate the fact that I am now 1 quarter of a century old," and playfully called it a landmark milestone that warranted a "gala celebration." Then returning to how the recording process was going, she told her family: "I certainly do miss you all, and wish you could be here to hear some of this stuff." Addressing her father and Chris, she noted that "rock and roll tune" "Don't Let Me Down Again" -- with "the fancy guitar work" they both liked -- was "almost finished," "Lindsey may go down in history as one of "greats" in guitar playing," she insisted. "It really is quite amazing." Rounding off, she asked them to "hold good thoughts about this thing." While the initial release of Buckingham Nicks wasn't a great commercial success, it was the precursor to Mick Fleetwood asking the then couple to join Fleetwood Mac, and the rest is rock 'n' roll history. - NME, 9/23/25...... In 2002, Cher embarked on her "Living Proof: The Farewell Tour." At the time, it was the highest-grossing tour by a female artist -- a massive global undertaking of 325 shows. A live album, appropriately tiled Live! The Farewell Tour, was released shortly thereafter. Now the album has received a vinyl release and has hit streaming, newly remastered and with three bonus tracks: "Save Up All Your Teaers," "We All Sleep Alone" and "Different Kind of Love Song." - AP, 9/22/25...... The Rolling StonesOn Sept. 24 The Rolling Stones announced they're prepping a Super Deluxe box set of their 1976 LP Black and Blue. The group will mark the album's upcoming 50th anniversary with an upcoming definitive Super Deluxe box set due out on Nov. 14 through Interscope/UMe featuring six previously unreleased songs. Black and Blue Super Deluxe, remixed and expanded across multiple formats, will include a 4-CD box set as well as a 5-LP vinyl box set, with both including a Blu-ray disc, replica tour poster and 100-page hardback book with a new essay by Stones expert Paul Sexton and exclusive photos from the album session and tour. A limited-edition vinyl version will be pressed on black and blue marbled vinyl, alongside streamlined two-disc and one-disc formats on CD and vinyl. Black and Blue, the band's 13th studio album, marked a turning point for the band following the departure of former guitarist Mick Taylor, who was eventually replaced by ex-Faces member Ronnie Wood. As the band searched for Taylor's replacement, they brought a series of guitar greats in to perform on the LP, including Canned Heat guitarist Harvey Mandel, songwriter and session great Wayne Perkins, as well as Yardbirds wiz Jeff Beck and Memphis blues guitarist Robert A. Johnson. Wood would later join the band full-time, appearing on three tracks on the Billboard Hot 200 chart-topping LP, which mixes reggae, funk and soul into the Stones' signature mix on songs including "Hot Stuff," "Fool to Cry," "Memory Motel" and "Melody." - Billboard, 9/24/25...... Barry Manilow has announced U.S. tour dates for Jan. 2026, which will mark his final concerts in nine markets, including Orlando and Tampa, Florida, and Columbus, Ohio. But fans who miss out on these dates shouldn't despair: BarryManilow.com has tickets available to shows at his residency at the International Theatre at Westgate Las Vegas through Dec. 2026. Tickets for Manilow's new tour dates went on sale Sept. 26. For all dates, tickets, and VIP packages visit Manilow's website. Manilow's long-running Las Vegas residency and his record-breaking appearances at Radio City Music Hall have contributed to his reputation as a legendary showman. He was a road warrior by the time of his second chart hit in 1975, "It's a Miracle," which contained this memorable line: "From Boston to Denver/ And every town in between." Manilow has had two No. 1 albums on the Billboard Hot 200, nearly 30 years apart -- Barry Manilow Live! (1977) and The Greatest Songs of the Fifties (2006). He has had three No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 -- "Mandy," "I Write the Songs" and "Looks Like We Made It." Manilow has won two Primetime Emmys, a Grammy and an honorary Tony. He was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002. - Billboard, 9/23/25...... Elton John has given rising English pop singer Lola Young the keys to his house after losing a bet with her. In a hilarious video posted on Instagram by the pair, Sir Elton gifts Young the keys to his house to uphold his end of a bet he sadly lost. "I'm here with Lola, and I said, 'Lola, if your single didn't get to No. 1 & that I would give you the keys to my house,'" he says of Young's track "Dealer." When John asks whether he and husband David Furnish can still sleep over occasionally, Young fires back, "No, sorry, it's mine now." "Me and my big mouth," John grumbles, after which the two friends start laughing together. "Since Dealer isn't no.1 yet, @eltonjohn had to give me his house (as promised)," Young captioned the clip. "I'm sure this is the last time he'll make a bet & Thanks @eltonjohn, love ya x." John wrote in the comments, "Thanks for letting us sleep over every now and then, @lolayounggg!" In July, Elton raved to Young about "Dealer" on his Apple Music show Rocket Hour, calling it "unbelievable" and "the biggest smash I've heard in years. "I just can't tell you how proud of you I am, because I know what you've been through and you've come out of it on the other side. You're going to have the best career. - Billboard, 9/22/25...... Legendary rock bassist and Pentangle founder Danny Thompson passed away on Sept. 24 at his home in Rickmansworth, UK. He was 86. A cornerstone of British music and a globally revered acoustic bassist, Mr. Thompson was known for his versatility and the profound musicality he brought to every performance, and his career spanned genres and generations, leaving behind a body of work as vast as it is respected. Born in Teesside, Mr. Thompson's journey began with early session work that saw him playing bass for Roy Orbison at a time when The Beatles were still on Orbison's supporting bill. His diverse talent led to an astonishing array of collaborations, becoming a founding member of the influential folk-jazz fusion band Pentangle, whose unique sound helped define a new musical landscape. Beyond Pentangle, he worked with such singer-songwriters as John Martyn, Nick Drake, and Kate Bush showcased his ability to elevate a song with both subtlety and power. He also crossed paths with jazz luminaries such as Tubby Hayes and Stan Tracey, as well as folk icons like Donovan and June Tabor. A later collaboration with The Blind Boys of Alabama further cemented his reputation as a musician without boundaries. - Music-News.com, 9/25/25...... Danny ThompsonAcclaimed Italian actress Claudia Cardinale, who starred in some of the most celebrated European films of the 1960s and 1970s, died in France on Sept. 24, her agent Laurent Savry told The Associated Press. She was 87. Ms. Cardinale starred in more than 100 films and made-for-television productions, but she was best known for embodying youthful purity in famed Italian director Federico Fellini's 8 1/2, in which she co-starred with Marcello Mastroianni in 1963. Ms. Cardinale also won praise for her role as Angelica Sedara in Luchino Visconti's award-winning screen adaption of the historical novel The Leopard that same year and a reformed prostitute in Sergio Leone's spaghetti western Once Upon a Time in the West in 1968. Ms. Cardinale began her movie-career at the age of 17 after winning a beauty contest in Tunisia, where she was born of Sicilian parents who had emigrated to North Africa. The contest brought her to the Venice Film Festival, where she came to the attention of the Italian movie industry. Before entering the beauty contest she had expected to become a school teacher. Her success came in the wake of Sophia Loren's international stardom and she was touted as Italy's answer to Brigitte Bardot. While never achieving the level of success of the French actor, she nonetheless was considered a star and worked with the leading directors in Europe and Hollywood. The sensuous brunette with enormous eyes was often cast as a hot-blooded woman. As she had a deep voice and spoke Italian with a heavy French accent, her voice was dubbed in her early movies. Her career in Hollywood brought only partial success because she was not interested in giving up European film. Nonetheless, she achieved some fame by teaming with Rock Hudson in the 1965 comedy thriller Blindfold and another comedy Don't Make Waves with Tony Curtis two years later. Among her industry prizes was a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement that she received at the Venice film festival nearly 40 years after her initial appearance on screen. In 2000, she was named a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for the defense of women's rights. Praise for Ms. Cardinale's talent, beauty and impact on the European cinema poured in after the news of her passing, with French Pres. Emmanuel Macron saying, "We French will always carry this Italian and global star in our hearts, in the eternity of cinema." Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli offered condolences to Ms. Cardinale's family and hailed her beauty and "exceptional talent" that inspired "milestones" of Italian cinema. "One of the greatest Italian actresses of all time has passed away," he said in a statement. She is survived by two children, one with with Franco Cristaldi, who produced her 1958 comedy classic Big Deal on Madonna Street, and a second with her later companion, Italian director Pasquale Squitieri. - Associated Press, 9/24/25.

Wednesday, September 17, 2025

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on September 22nd, 2025

Rod Stewart's wife Penny Lancaster has opened up about her relationship with her rocker husband in a new interview with Saga magazine, gushing that Rod is "so youthful, he's a machine." "You can't stop him. He's the one that says, 'We're going out tomorrow night' or, 'Should we go to Paris this weekend?' I'm like, 'We were out last night!' he has ideas about how he'll wind down but he'll never stop," Lancaster said. "We're already looking at tours next year and the year beyond." She has been married to Stewart, 80, for 18 years, but says she had to convince his six children that she wasn't a gold digger when they first met. Stewart already had two marriages behind him when they met, and had six children by four women. "They were, 'What's her angle?' I was just... 'I like the guy!' Whatever decisions Rod made with exes, I was always very inclusive with them, making sure they didn't see me as a threat." Lancaster and Stewart later welcomed two sons of their own -- Alastair, 19, and Aiden, 14. - Music-News.com, 9/21/25...... Neil YoungThe 40th anniversary Farm Aid benefit concert held on Sept. 20 at Minneapolis' Huntington Bank Stadium is expected to be the most successful Farm Aid in many years. Headlined by founding musicians Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young, the 12-hour show sold over 36,000 tickets and drew contributions solicited on air during a five-plus-hour broadcast of the event on CNN. "It's one of the highlights of my life to have been part of this," said Young, flanked by Nelson and Mellencamp, and joined by fellow Farm Aid board members Dave Matthews and Margo Price, during a press conference on the morning before the event. "That said, there's one thing that really strikes me about this day. And what I would like to say is, we need money so we can give it to the farmers and support the farmers. And we need to get it from these big corporations and billionaires that have taken all the farmers' land or a great portion of it." "We want donations from them," added Young. "Huge donations to Farm Aid. We don't want to give them favors. They bought hundreds and thousands of acres of farmland in this country as investments. And they're living the good life. They need to stand up and pay a conscience tax to the farmers of America!" Also performing during the show was Hibbing, Minn., native Bob Dylan, whose offhand remark at Live Aid in July 1985 led Nelson to launch Farm Aid. On a darkened stage, behind a piano and wearing a hoodie, Dylan opened his set with "All Along the Watchtower," which along with such classics as "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" received dramatic but engaging rearrangements. And in an apparent acknowledgment of his roots, he sang the seldom performed "Highway 61 Revisited," inspired by the road that traverses Minnesota enroute to the Mississippi Delta. Young began his penultimate set with his band Chrome Hearts before event closer Nelson with his newly penned protest song "Big Crime" that takes direct aim at Washington, D.C. "Rockin' in the Free World" followed, then the soft lament of "Long Walk Home," with its lyric "America, America/ Where have we gone?" It was notable that Young included a powerhouse, electric version of "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)," which he performed acoustically at the first Farm Aid in 1985. A heartfelt "Old Man" closed his set. Young, who has frequently spoken of the Farm Aid cause from the stage, said: "This Is the time when people and the farmers have got to come together as never before." - Billboard, 9/21/25...... Fleetwood Mac has quashed rumours that Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has invited them to reunite for her 60th birthday party. The band have not played together since a children's hospital benefit concert in San Francisco in Nov. 2019, and it has been widely thought that any chance of a reunion was unlikely due to Christine McVie's passing in 2022. However, a report on Sept. 20 in the U.K. paper Daily Mail suggested that Rowling was planning on hiring them to play at her two-day 60th birthday party later this year. Representatives for the band were quick to respond to the speculation, telling Rolling Stone that "this is categorically false" and even stating that it is "not in the realm of true." Even if a Fleetwood Mac reunion does not appear to be on the cards, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham fuelled fresh speculation on Sept. 5 about a possible reunion of their Buckingham Nicks duo, sharing a joint Instagram post that featured an old clip of the two onstage. Elsewhere, Nicks has said she's working on a new album, saying it was made up of "real stories, memories of mine, of fantastic men." Meanwhile, Mick Fleetwood and Buckingham recently teamed up with Miley Cyrus for a song called "Secrets" from her upcoming album, and released a video on YouTube. - New Musical Express, 9/21/25...... David ByrneDavid Byrne performed the Talking Heads hit "Psycho Killer" for the first time in 19 years as he launched the North American leg of his solo world tour in Pittsburgh on Sept. 16 with an eclectic mix of Talking Heads hits, solo material, a handful of live debuts and even a cover of Paramore' "Hard Times." The biggest surprise of the set, however, came towards the end of the performance when Byrne played "Psycho Killer" -- something he famously hasn't done live for the first time since 2006. For the acoustic performance, Byrne ditched his iconic oversized Talking Heads-era suit for blue overall, as he was backed by a throng of dancers. Elsewhere during the set, Byrne played Talking Heads hits like "Heaven," "And She Was," "Houses In Motion," "Once In A Lifetime" and set closer "Burning Down The House." Byrne's solo tour will carry out across North America through December, followed by a tour of Australia and New Zealand in January and February. February will also see him kick off a stint across the UK and Europe until March. Footage of his "Psycho Killer" performance in Pittsburgh can be viewed on TikTok. - NME, 9/18/25...... The estate of Prince has asked a federal judge to drop a trademark lawsuit filed by Prince protégé Apollonia Kotero, who claims the estate is "stealing" her name. Kotero, who starred in the late pop icon's hit 1984 film Purple Rain as his love interest, filed a 14-page complaint against the singer's Paisley Park Enterprises estate in August, accusing them of "attempting to steal" her name. Kotero alleged that "Prince himself consented to and encouraged Apollonia in her professional endeavours" using that name. Kotero has now used the name for over four decades and released numerous projects under the alias. In court filings from Sept. 17, Paisley Park Enterprises (PPE) has said that Kotero's lawsuit was "improperly filed" over "hypothetical threats," and that it has no intention to stop the artist from continuing to use her stage name. The filings continued to say that PPE wanted to co-exist with Kotero, and clarified that it only took action at the USPTO because her existing trademark registration on "Apollonia" blocked the estate's own attempt to secure the rights for "Apollonia 6," the name of the Prince-founded girl group that Kotero led. The estate then claimed that Kotero obtained the trademark "during [the] chaotic period following Prince's death," and therefore it has grounds to cancel it. Kotero's lawyer Daniel M. Cislo told Billboard: "Unfortunately, this is another attack on Apollonia's name which will be dealt with in Apollonia's favor." Her attorneys will have chance to respond to the estate's motion to dismiss in the weeks and months ahead. Prince died of a fentanyl overdose in 2016. He was 57-years-old. - NME, 9/21/25...... On Sept. 17 BBC announced the new broadcast date for an Ozzy Osbourne documentary that was pulled from its schedule at the last minute in August due to the family's request. Now the BBC says the one-hour movie Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home -- originally slated to air on Aug. 18 -- will now screen on BBC One and iPlayer on Oct. 2. The film covering the final few years of the rock icon's life was pulled from the network's schedule just hours before it was slated to screen, with the network saying that the move came in an effort at "respecting the family's wishes to wait a bit longer before airing this very special film." The initial air date would have been less than a month after Osbourne died at age 76 on July 22, just two weeks after performing his final show at his home soccer stadium, Villa Park, in Birmingham, England as part of the all-star "Back to the Beginning" tribute show. The movie will cover the final three years of the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's life as he and wife/manager Sharon Osbourne moved back to their native U.K. after years of living in Los Angeles, as well as his "heroic" fight to overcome a series of medical issues to return to the stage for the July 5 show in Ozzy's native Birmingham. The BBC doc will hit screen just five days before another emotional doc covering Ozzy's final years, Ozzy: No Escape From Now, which will follow the rocker in the six years before his death. That movie, directed by BAFTA Award-winner Tania Alexander will premiere on Paramount+ on Oct. 7 in the U.S. and internationally (excluding Japan). The project produced in collaboration with the Osbourne family, will feature Sharon, as well as their children, Aimee, Jack and Kelly Osbourne, describing the devastating effects of a late-night fall Ozzy suffered in Feb. 2019 that led to the cancellation of his planned two-and-a-half-year farewell tour. - Billboard, 9/18/25...... Steven TylerAerosmith and English singer/songwriter/actor Yungblud have confirmed that they have collaborated on an EP called "One More Time." The two acts collaborated earlier in September when Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry joined Yungblud in paying a moving tribute to Ozzy Osbourne at the 2025 MTV VMAs. After the performance, the two of them shared a clip on social media suggesting they had a "secret," and later confirmed that they had worked together on a powerful single called "My Only Angel," a teaser of which Yungblud uploaded to X/Twitter on Sept. 15. The new song will mark the first original track that Aerosmith have worked on in over a decade -- following Music From Another Dimension! which arrived in 2012. It also marks the first new music from the iconic rock band since they abruptly retired from touring in summer 2024 due to Tyler injuring his voice. - NME, 9/17/25...... The White Stripes frontman Jack White joined Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band during the latter's 11-track set at the Bourbon & Beyond festival in Louisville, Ky., on Sept. 13. To close his show, Starr treated the crowd to a rendition of the Beatles' 1967 classic "With a Little Help From My Friends" from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. White, along with his current bandmates, assisted on a chorus of voices singing John Lennon and Paul McCartney's part on the track. The Starr/White performance can be viewed on YouTube. In January, White appeared on stage with Starr at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn. for the latter's Ringo & Friends At The Ryman TV special. This came after the former White Stripes frontman played live with McCartney in Mexico City in Nov. 2024 as part of the Corona Capital fest. Earlier in the show, Starr was joined by members of Toto's Steve Lukather, Men At Work's Colin Hay and Average White Band's Hamish Stuart to cover "Rosanna," "Hold The Line," "Land Down Under" and "Pick Up The Pieces." - NME, 9/17/25...... In other Fab Four-related news, Paul McCartney joined the likes of Elton John and Kate Bush and other UK artists in urging UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to protect their work in AI copyright ahead of Pres. Donald Trump visit to the country earlier in September. Trump was accompanied by a delegation of US executives on the state visit, including leaders of Nvidia Corp and ChatGPT developer OpenAI, which has prompted industry figures to hit out at Labour's failures to defend the rights of artists by blocking attempts to force AI firms to reveal what copyrighted material they have used in their systems. In May, Sir Elton signed a letter asking Starmer to back proposals that would protect copyrighted artistic works from AI infringement -- was among the 70-some signatories. He said government proposals to let AI companies train their systems on copyright-protected work without permission left the door "wide open for an artist's life work to be stolen," adding: "We will not accept this, and we will not let the government forget their election promises to support our creative industries." - NME, 9/16/25...... Sonny CurtisVintage rock 'n' roll star and songwriter Sonny Curtis, known for writing the raw classic "I Fought the Law" for the Bobby Fuller Four and composing the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme song, died on Sept. 19 after a sudden illness, according to a Facebook post by his daughter Sarah Curtis. He was 88. Mr. Curtis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Buddy Holly's band The Crickets in 2012. Born on May 9, 1937, during the Great Depression to cotton farmers outside of Meadow, Tex., Mr. Curtis was a childhood friend of Holly's and an active musician in the formative years of rock, whether jamming on guitar with Holly in the mid-1950s or opening for Elvis Presley when Presley was still a regional act. Curtis' songwriting touch also soon emerged: Before he turned 20, he had written the hit "Someday" for Webb Pierce and "Rock Around With Ollie Vee" for Holly. Mr. Curtis had left Holly's group, the Crickets, before Holly became a major star. But he returned after Holly died in a plane crash in 1959 and he was featured the following year on the album In Style with the Crickets, which included "I Fought the Law" (dashed off in a single afternoon, according to Curtis, who would say he had no direct inspiration for the song) and the Jerry Allison collaboration "More Than I Can Say," a hit for Bobby Vee, and later for Leo Sayer. In 1966, the Texas-based Bobby Fuller Four turned "I Fought the Law" into a Top 10 song. Over the following decades, it was covered by dozens of artists, from punk (The Clash) to country (Johnny Cash, Nanci Griffith) to Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and other mainstream rock stars. "It's my most important copyright," Mr. Curtis told The Nashville Tennessean in 2014. In 1970, Mr. Curtis was writing commercial jingles when he came up with the theme for a new CBS sitcom starring Mary Tyler Moore as a single woman hired as a TV producer in Minneapolis. He called the song "Love is All Around," and used a smooth melody to eventually serve up lyrics as indelible as any in television history: "Who can turn the world on with her smile?/ Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?/ Well it's you girl, and you should know it/ With each glance and every little movement you show it." The song's endurance was sealed by the images it was heard over, especially Moore's triumphant toss of her hat as Curtis proclaims, "You're going to make it after all." In tribute, other artists began recording it, including Sammy Davis Jr., Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and Minnesota's Hüsker D. A commercial release featuring Mr. Curtis came out in 1980 and was a modest success, peaking at No. 29 on the country chart. Mr. Curtis recorded a handful of solo albums, including Sonny Curtis and Spectrum, and hit the country Top 20 with the 1981 single "Good Ol' Girls." In later years, he continued to play with Jerry Allison and other members of the Crickets. The band released several albums, among them The Crickets and Their Buddies, featuring appearances by Eric Clapton, Graham Nash and Phil Everly. One of Mr. Curtis' more notable songs was "The Real Buddy Holly Story," a rebuke to the 1978 biopic The Buddy Holly Story, which starred Gary Busey. Mr. Curtis settled in Nashville in the mid-1970s and lived there with his wife, Louise. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1991 and, as part of the Crickets, into Nashville's Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007. Five years later, he and the Crickets were inducted into the Rock Hall, praised as "the blueprint for rock and roll bands (that) inspired thousands of kids to start up garage bands around the world." He is survived by Louise, his wife of more than a half-century, and daughter Louise Curtis. - Billboard, 9/20/25.

Current pop sensation Miley Cyrus has previewed a new song called "Secrets" that features contributions from Fleetwood Mac's Mick Fleetwood and Lindsey Buckingham. Cyrus previewed the stand-alone single in an Instagram post featuring a short snippet of her crooning, "Anywhere you go/ You know I'll follow," a cappella backed by a chorus of voices shadowing her vocals. Cyrus first teased the song in August, which her father, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, said in an Instagram story at the time was a "gift of music" his daughter gave him for his recent birthday. Billy Ray added that the track featured two of his "favorite musicians," Fleetwood and Buckingham. "I wrote this song about my dad because I wanted him to tell me even though there were secrets, even though I didn't really want to know," Miley said during a visit to Monica Lewinsky's podcast about the track that finds Miley singing: "Secrets, I want to keep your secrets/ Like sunlight in the shadows/ Like footsteps in the grass/ I won't ever break my promise/ Like a songbird in the silence/ Like stones against the glass." - Billboard, 9/16/25...... Elton JohnElton John has released Touched By Gold, a new documentary short on YouTube that chronicles his history with the precious metal. "It's been there since the world began and it's been used in all sorts of ways," John says in the doc in which he describes the "timeless" nature of gold, which can be simple, ravishing, decorative, or even overwhelming. Given his fondness of the precious metal, it comes as no surprise when, halfway through the short film, the Rocket Man reveals that he's turned one of his most painful moments into gleaming keepsake jewelry. "When I had my kneecaps removed, the left one first and then the right, I asked my surgeon if I could keep the kneecaps, which he was rather startled about," John tells London jewelry designer Theo Fennell. "Then I rang you and said, 'Would you be prepared to, if I gave you the left and the right kneecap to do what you want with them?'" Fennell said he totally got the assignment and shows off a piece of jewelry he created with a fragment of John's kneecap bone that he turned into a necklace. "We baked them. We had to bake them to dry them out," says Fennell. "Then they get rather like pumice stone, they're very porous. So we had to paint them with acetate and then just polish them up." Fennell says he was very happy with the results, holding up the shiny necklace to the camera as Sir Elton professes to be pleased with the unusually beautiful result. "That is amazing," Elton says as Fennell twirls the finished piece. "That one, that's the right kneecap. That's my right patella." John, 78, says that his surgeon told him that he had "the worst knees he's ever operated on," pointing to a large hole in the piece that Fennell used to loop the necklace through. "It looks like an old artifact from Egypt or something," John says of the necklace Fennell refers to as "talismanic." Fennell turned the smaller left kneecap into a brooch because there was less material to work with. "I honestly think these are timeless pieces that will last for centuries," John says. The rock superstar chronicled his litany of health issues during a chat at the New York Film Festival last year to promote the U.S. premiere of his Elton John: Never Too Late documentary. "To be honest with you, there's not much of me left," he said at the time. "I don't have tonsils, adenoids or an appendix. I don't have a prostate. I don't have a right hip or a left knee or a right knee. In fact, the only thing left to me is my left hip. But I'm still here." - Billboard, 9/16/25...... Hard rockers Judas Priest recorded a cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" with late Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne before his death in late July. "She [Ozzy's wife/manager Sharon Osbourne] approached me with this idea, she said, 'I love your version of War Pigs. Is there a way we can get Ozzy?' I was [like], 'You're asking me? This is gonna happen!,'" Halford recently told the Full Metal Jackie podcast. Halford said the band is currently going through the legal channels to clear the song, which he described as, "Ozzy singing a line and then I'm singing a line and Ozzy's singing a line and I'm singing a line. It's the first ever time in my entire life that I've been able to do a duet with Ozzy and I'm so eternally grateful and blessed that I was able to do that. When you hear it, it's just colossal. You think that you've heard the one experience of Priest's 'War Pigs,' but when you hear Priest's 'War Pigs' with Ozzy singing on that track, it's just going to a really special place." Though no release date has been announced yet, Halford said "the green button's almost ready to go," with the artwork being finalized. "But I think it's gonna be pretty soon," he said. Halford's Full Metal Jackie interview can be streamed on Apple.com. In other Ozzy-related news, Sharon Osbourne has finally broke silence following the death of her beloved husband. On Sept. 12, the 72-year-old wife and longtime manager of Ozzy spoke out on social media for the first time since his passing, opening up about her grief and the outpouring of support she has received. "I'm still having trouble finding the words to express how grateful I am for the overwhelming love and support you've shown on social media," the British TV personality wrote alongside an Instagram video featuring herself and daughter Kelly Osbourne at a falconry in England. "Your comments, posts, and tributes have brought me more comfort than you know," she continued. "None of it has gone unnoticed, in fact, it's carried me through many nights. Though I'm still finding my footing, I wanted to share some glorious creatures I had the chance to spend an afternoon with." Sharon went on to describe the emotional connection she felt during the experience. "The connection you make with these powerful birds is built entirely on trust and confidence," she wrote. "They'll choose to perch on you only if they sense you are safe and unafraid of them. It's a bond I know all too well, and the experience was nothing short of magical." Osbourne concluded her message with a heartfelt note of gratitude. "I love you all, and I thank you deeply for the otherworldly amount of love you continue to send my way," she wrote. - Billboard, 9/16/25...... Neil YoungNeil Young and his latest backing band, The Chrome Hearts, are the object of a trademark infringement lawsuit brought by the luxury brand Chrome Hearts. The high-end Chrome Hearts brand have been active since the late '80s and are well known for the luxury clothing, jewellery and accessories that has been outfitting musicians, designers and athletes for decades. The company is now seeking an injunction that would immediately force Young to stop using the Chrome Hearts name, with the damages they're seeking as yet unspecified. Los Angeles-based Chrome Hearts contend that they never "granted a license" or gave Young "any form of permission to use intellectual property belonging to Chrome Hearts," with the complaint adding: "Defendants have copied Chrome Hearts' federally registered trademarks in an effort to exploit Chrome Hearts' reputation in the market." As well as Young and his Chrome Hearts bandmates -- namely Micah Nelson, Corey McCormick, Anthony Logerfo, and Spooner Oldham -- Young's production company, The Other Shoe Productions, was also named as a defendant in the suit. The brand said that by making and selling merchandise bearing the name "Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts" (NYTCH), the "Heart of Gold" singer and his band would "likely cause confusion" in the marketplace. While none of Young's merchandise mimics any of Chrome Hearts' trademarked logos, the brand claimed that third-party apparel vendors have "apparently already mistakenly assumed there is a connection between NYTCH and Chrome Hearts, and are actively promoting that purported connection." The complaint also claims the company had notified Young's team about the alleged trademark infringement back in July, but they continued to tour under that name and sell merchandise emblazoned with it. Meanwhile, the singer who had a hit long ago with "Old Man" will celebrate his 80th birthday at star-studded Toronto concert in his native Canada this fall. "NY80: A Celebration of Neil Young and His Music" is set for Nov. 12 at Massey Hall, and feature performances by Young, Kathleen Edwards, Donovan Woods, Serena Ryder, Joel Plaskett, Julian Taylor, Matt Mays, and other Canadian performers. All proceeds from the event will be donated to MusiCounts, Canada's music education charity associated with The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and The JUNO Awards. Born in Toronto on Nov. 12, 1945, Young first gained fame in the 1960's as a member of Buffalo Springfield, then as a solo artist and member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and often backed by the band Crazy Horse. He recently played two shows at Toronto's Budweiser Stage this summer. - NME/Canoe.com, 9/15/25...... Organizers of the 40th anniversary edition of the renowned Farm Aid charity concert have confirmed that this year's festival will proceed as planned at the University of Minnesota, following a resolution between the university's administration and striking workers. On Sept. 13 the organizers posted on Instagram that the annual event will be held at Minneapolis' Huntington Bank Stadium on Sept. 20, after the university and Teamsters Local 320 reached a labor agreement. "Farm Aid is grateful that the University of Minnesota and Teamsters Local 320 have reached an agreement," organizers wrote. "We are thrilled to confirm that Farm Aid 40 will go forward in Minneapolis as planned." They continued, "For four decades, Farm Aid has stood with farmers and workers. Today's agreement is a reminder of what can be achieved when people come together in the spirit of fairness and solidarity." The 2025 edition of Farm Aid -- marking the festival's 40th anniversary -- will feature headliners Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Kenny Chesney, Margo Price and Billy Strings, among others. The event is expected to draw a crowd of approximately 50,000 fans. - Billboard, 9/13/25...... Pink FloydPink Floyd announced on Sept. 12 that their landmark 1975 LP Wish You Were Here will receive a deluxe 50th anniversary edition re-release this December. The legendary prog-rock band's ninth studio album, Wish You Were Here has been restored, remastered and expanded with an additional 25 bonus tracks, spanning alternate studio takes and live recordings by the famed bootlegger Mike Millard at Pink Floyd's Los Angeles Sports Arena concert on Apr. 26, 1975. The audio restoration for the latter was overseen by producer and Porcupine Tree member Steve Wilson. Rarities on the set include "The Machine Song (Roger's demo)", the first home demo of the song that bassist/cofounder Roger Waters originally brought to the band; an instrumental mix of the track "Wish You Were Here"; and a complete version of the nine-part composition "Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 1-9)." Wish You Were Here 50 will be released digitally on Dec. 12 via Sony Music, as well as across multiple physical formats including 2-CD, 3-LP, Blu-ray and a box set. The former features a new Dolby Atmos mix by engineer James Guthrie, whose work with Pink Floyd dates back to 1979's The Wall. To promote the new release, the band has shared an early recording of "Welcome to the Machine" on YouTube. Previously titled "The Machine Song," it is shorter in length than the original and is a demo track that has never been heard until now. Wish You Were Here was first unveiled 50 years ago on Sept. 12, 1975, becoming the band's first album to top the U.K. Albums Chart, as well as the Billboard Hot 200 album chart. The lyrics explored longing and disillusion, marking a thematic change for the band. It is now recognized as one of the greatest classic rock records ever made, having sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. - Billboard, 9/12/25...... Marlon Richards, the son of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and his former actor/girlfriend Anita Pallenberg, has revealed the Stones are nearly done" working on a new album. In a newly published interview with Record Collector magazine that was conducted in May, actor/producer Marlon was asked what the group were up to currently. "They're in town right now, recording," he responded. "They're in Chiswick [West London] or somewhere like that; I think they're nearly done. They still maintain these ridiculous hours: after lunch until, like, two in the morning. I'd rather be somewhere else at that time of night! Unless you're in it, it's pretty boring." "They gave them a Grammy, so now they're all hyped up on that: 'Oh, yeah - we can do another one like that! We've got more like that if you want'. I think they're doing the follow-up," Marlon said in reference to the band's 2023 24th studio album Hackney Diamonds. The LP marked their first full-length effort since 2005's A Bigger Bang, and earned them the "Best Rock Album" award at the Grammys 2025. Richards then addressed the speculation about a forthcoming tour: "I think they're planning a tour of Europe." Ahead of Hackney Diamonds being released, Stones frontman Mick Jagger told The New York Times that he wouldn't consider it to be the "last Rolling Stones album," because the members were already around "three-quarters through the next one." In Nov. 2023, Keith Richards revealed there was "plenty more stuff left over." He added: "There'll always be another [album] until we drop This is what we do. We've gotta see this Rolling Stones through."- NME, 9/12/25...... Bobby HartBobby Hart, one half of the top 1960s songwriting and performing duo Boyce & Hart, passed away at his home in Los Angeles, Calif., on Sept. 10. He was 86. A posting on the duo's Instagram page reads: "Very sad news to report: Bobby Hart, the songwriting dynamo who was half of the duo responsible for so many Monkees songs, has died. With partner Tommy Boyce, Bobby penned tracks like "I Wanna Be Free," "Last Train to Clarksville," the iconic Monkees [TV show] theme, and so many more, in addition to his solo songwriting career with hits like "Hurts So Bad" for Little Anthony and the Imperials. He will be remembered for his incredible talent and his innate spirituality.... You will be so missed, Bobby." Mickey Dolenz -- who is the only surviving member of The Monkees -- also paid tribute to Mr. Hart on Instagram on Sept. 14: "Another great is gone. Bobby Hart, who along with Tommy Boyce, penned and produced some of the Monkees' greatest hits not only made a vital contribution to the popular success of the Monkees, but even more importantly to the essence, the very spirit of the entire venture. His talent, charisma, good humor and calmness in the face of what at times was nothing less than a maniacal roller coaster ride often brought a sense of peace that heartened everyone around him. He was the stillness that is the eye of the hurricane. Rest in peace, Bobby." After Mr. Hart -- whose health had been deteriorating since he broke his hip in 2024 -- and Boyce stopped working with The Monkees, the duo continued working together, releasing the albums Test Patterns and I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite (whose title track reached No. 8 in the US in Jan. 1968), as well as appearing in sitcoms I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched. The pair also penned the theme for the long-running soap opera Days of Our Lives. The duo also toured with the Monkees' Dolenz and Davy Jones in 1975. Tommy Boyce died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1994. Mr. Hart had been married twice, most recently to singer Mary Ann Hart, and leaves behind two children. - Music-News.com, 9/15/25...... Actress Pat Crowley, best known for leading the 1965-67 NBC sitcom Please Don't Eat the Daisies, died of natural causes on Sept. 19, two days before her 92nd birthday. Her death was announced by her son, Jon Hookstratten, who is the executive vice president of administration and operations at Sony Pictures Entertainment. Born Patricia Crowley on Sept. 17, 1933, in Olyphant, Pa., Ms. Crowley left her hometown for New York as a teenager with her sister Ann. The pair found success on Broadway, Ann in "Oklahoma!" and "Paint Your Wagon," and Ms. Crowley playing the lead in "Southern Exposure" in 1950. She then broke into film with Paramount's Forever Female in 1953, starring alongside Ginger Rogers and William Holden as a young actress who wants the lead role in a play. That same year, she starred in Money From Home with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, and won the Golden Globe for New Star of the Year for her performances. Though she would go on to accrue more than 100 screen credits, guest starring on various TV shows throughout her career, Ms. Crowley is best known for Please Don't Eat the Daisies, the series based on the 1960 movie of the same name starring Doris Day. She played mother of four Joan Nash, who blew past traditional housewife tropes and worked as a freelance newspaper columnist. After Daisies, she continued appearing on popular TV shows well into the 2000s, with roles on Columbo, Friends, Hawaii Five-O, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Dynasty, Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Frasier, Charmed and Murder, She Wrote. Her final film role was in 2012's Mont Reve. She was married to the late Ed Hookstratten, the powerful entertainment attorney who represented the likes of Johnny Carson, Elvis Presley, and Vin Scully. Ms. Crowley is also survived by her daughter, Ann; son-in-law Robert; daughter-in-law Marion; five grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. - Entertainment Weekly, 9/20/25...... Robert RedfordRobert Redford, one of the most influential actors in Hollywood of the last 50 years, passed away in his sleep at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah on Sept. 16. He was 89 and no specific cause of death has been revealed. Mr. Redford's press agent Cindi Berger announced the sad news, adding that Sundance was "the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved. He will be missed greatly. The family requests privacy." Born on Aug. 18, 1937, in Santa Monica, Calif., Mr. Redford attended the University of Colorado, Pratt Institute of Design, and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He found success in television in such series as Playhouse 90, The Twilight Zone and Perry Mason, and theater (in 1959's "Tall Story"), then made his big-screen debut in 1962's War Hunt and starred alongside Jane Fonda in 1967's Barefoot in the Park, the film adaptation of the popular Neil Simon play. In 1969, Mr. Redford transitioned into superstardom in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid playing the Sundance Kid, with his fellow blue-eyed heartthrob actor Paul Newman starring as Butch Cassidy. Mr. Redford became one of Hollywood's top leading men in the 1970s, with featured roles in 1972's The Candidate, 1973's The Sting (pairing again with Newman) and The Way We Were (with Barbra Streisand), 1974's The Great Gatsby (with Mia Farrow) , 1975's Three Days of the Condor (with Faye Dunaway, and 1976's All the President's Men (with Dustin Hoffman). In 1980, Mr. Redford made his directorial debut with Ordinary People. The family drama won four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. Mr. Redford acted less frequently after Ordinary People, but he still made memorable turns in 1984's The Natural, 1985's Out of Africa, 1993's Indecent Proposal, and 2001's Spy Game In 2014, Mr. Redford made his MCU Marvel debut in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, playing S.H.I.E.L.D. official Secretary Alexander Pierce, who was later revealed to be working for Hydra. He reprised the role for 2019's Avengers: Endgame. He announced his retirement from acting after 2018's The Old Man & the Gun, saying two years earlier that he was "tired of acting." His achievements as director include such acclaimed films as A River Runs Through It, starring Brad Pitt, in 1992, and Quiz Show in 1994, among seven other films. Outside of acting, Mr. Redford became a champion of independent film and founded the Sundance Film Institute, which helped boost independent film-making in the late 80s and early 90s. Films that premiered at Sundance and went onto huge success include Four Weddings and a Funeral, Precious, Manchester by the Sea, Little Miss Sunshine, The Blair Witch Project and Get Out. Robert RedfordHe later decried the commercialization that had become associated with the Sundance name. He was also a keen environmental campaigner, and once testified before the US congress on behalf of funding for the arts. Tributes for Mr. Redford have poured in, praising the star's "everlasting impact." His Out of Africa costar Meryl Streep led the tributes, saying saying: "One of the lions has passed. Rest in peace my lovely friend." Costar Jane Fonda, a lifelong friend, remembered him as "a beautiful person in every way." "It hit me hard this morning when I read that Bob was gone," Fonda said. "I can't stop crying. He meant a lot to me and was a beautiful person in every way. He stood for an America we have to keep fighting for," she added. His The Way We Were costar Barbra Streisand called him "one of the finest actors ever." "Bob was charismatic, intelligent, intense, always interesting, and one of the finest actors ever... He was one of a kind, and I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with him," she said. Director Ron Howard, writing on X, described Mr. Redford as "a tremendously influential cultural figure" and an "artistic gamechanger." Mr. Redford is survived by his wife Sibylle Szaggars who he married in 2009. He had previously been married to Lola Van Wagenen,and the couple had four children before divorcing in 1995. One of their children, Scott, died at the age of two months from sudden infant death syndrome, and James, died of cancer in 2020. He is also survived by two daughters -- Shauna, an artist, and Amy, a director. - ComingSoon.Net/BBC.com/TheDailyBeast.com, 9/16/25.

Sunday, September 7, 2025

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on September 12th, 2025

The music of the popular '70s troupe Earth, Wind & Fire and '80s hitmaker Cyndi Lauper will be celebrated in two new Grammy Salute TV specials filmed at L.A.'s Hollywood Bowl. In a clever touch, the salute to EW&F will air on "the 21st night of September," to borrow a line from one of their most famous hits, "September." Airing on CBS from 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), A Grammy Salute to Earth, Wind & Fire Live: The 21st Night of September will also feature the LA Philharmonic, Stevie Wonder, Jonas Brothers, Jon Batiste and Janelle Mone. Wonder was the subject of his own Grammy Salute special in 2015, Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life - An All-Star Grammy Salute. The Cyndi Lauper tribute will are on Oct. 5 from 8:00-10:00 p.m. with special guests Joni Mitchell, Cher, John Legend, and more. - Billboard, 9/11/25...... The convicted assassin of John Lennon has been denied parole for a 14th time. Mark David Chapman appeared before the New York Department of Corrections parole board on Aug. 27 and was ordered to continue serving his 20 year-to-life sentence at least until his next parole hearing, which is set to take place in Feb. 2027. During a 2020 appeal for parole, Chapman expressed deep regret for shooting Lennon, telling officers that he deserved the death penalty for the "despicable" act he committed. "I assassinated him because he was very, very, very famous and that's the only reason and I was very, very, very, very much seeking self-glory. Very selfish," Chapman said. In 2022, Chapman reiterated his point, saying that he had a "selfish disregard for human life" in murdering Lennon. WingsIn other Beatles-related news, Paul McCartney's '70s band Wings will release what is described as their "definitive" anthology collection personally overseen by Sir Paul himself on Nov. 7. Released in "an impressive array of beautifully designed formats", WINGS is described in a press release as "a lovingly curated time capsule of imagery and music for the mega Wings fan" and will be available as a 3LP limited edition colour vinyl, as well as a 1-CD and 1-LP. Additionally, fans can get their hands on both 3LP and 2CD versions -- complete with an expanded 32-page booklet featuring photographs, artwork, paintings, trivia and information about the group. All physical formats come with a booklet containing an introduction from McCartney, and the Blu-ray version of WINGS is the first time Wings songs are available on a physical format in Dolby. The official WINGS trailer can be checked out on YouTube. Earlier in 2025, the band released a 50th anniversary of their fourth studio album, Venus and Mars, which came after the 2024 release of the Wings film One Hand Clapping and its accompanying 1974 live album. McCartney will kick off his 2025 "Got Back" North American tour on Sept. 29 in Palm Desert, Calif., marking his first trek across the US and Canada since 2022. Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, Ringo Starr held a presser at Riverside Theater in Milwaukee as he kicked off his latest US tour with his All Starr Band at The Chicago Theater on Sept. 9. "We have to tour to get the pleasure of playing to people. I love playing live," Ringo told the assembled media. "I've been doing this since 1989 and it just works. We are a band, this group of guys who were in their own bands, including me. I'm still touring. You never think you're going to get this far. And I'm still doing what I love to do. It's something I love to do." Ahead of his 85th birthday in July, Ringo told The New York Times: "It blows me away. I look in the mirror and I'm 24. I never got older than 24." The famous drummer also said he makes a conscious effort to live in the present, rather than dwelling on the past or focusing on the future. "I live in the now. I didn't plan any of it. I love that life I'm allowed to live." - Billboard/New Musical Express/Music-News.com, 9/11/25...... The favorite songs of David Bowie have been revealed in a note unearthed for the new David Bowie Centre, which opens at the V&A East Storehouse in Hackney Wick in East London on Sept. 13. Along with 90,000 items related to the iconic artist, the collection will trace Bowie's "creative processes as a musical innovator, cultural icon, and advocate for self-expression and reinvention," and have been acquired by the V&A through the David Bowie Estate, the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group. The list of Bowie's favourite songs reads: "Memo for radio show -- list of favourite records," and includes tracks such as Alan Freed and His Rock 'N' Roll Band's "Right Now Right Now" and Jeff Beck's "Beck's Bolero." Bowie also included "Across The Universe" by the Beatles, which he covered on his 1975 album Young Americans. Elsewhere, he also listed Little Richard's "Ecclusiastics," Roxy Music's "Mother of Pearl," "The Electrician" by The Walker Brothers and "Tom Violence" by Sonic Youth. While uncovering the archive, it's also been revealed that Bowie's final months were spent working on a separate project. Described in his notes as an "18th century musical" titled "The Spectator," details of the project were kept under wraps, and its existence remained unknown even to his closest collaborators until the notes were discovered locked in his study in 2016. The room was always locked, accessible only to Bowie and his personal assistant, so all of his handwritten notes were left undisturbed until archivists began cataloguing his belongings. They have now been donated to the V&A Museum, with the rest of Bowie's archive. Meanwhile, the final years of Bowie's career are set to be celebrated in a huge new box set, I Can't Give Everything Away (2002-2016), which drops on Sept. 12. - NME, 9/11/25...... The EaglesThe Eagles have extended their Las Vegas Sphere residency into early 2026. At the start of their run, the band had planned to perform eight shows at the state-of-the-art venue, with another eight then added. "Overwhelming demand" then saw yet more dates added, and they've now scheduled another four nights on their "Long Goodbye" tour, bringing the total number of gigs they've played at the venue to 48. The Eagles will play additional shows on Jan. 23, Jan. 24, Jan. 30 and Jan. 31. Presale registration for the new dates is available through the band's official website, with the presale commencing on Sept. 17 and the general sale two days later. The official announcement can be viewed on Instagram. NME, 9/10/25...... In other Sphere news, David Gilmour has suggested he'd be keen for a Pink Floyd avatar show at the innovative Las Vegas venue. Gilmour made the comments during a Q+A at the UK premiere of his concert film Live At Circus Maximus, Rome, held at London's BFI IMAX. When asked about the possibility of a Sphere residency, Gilmour said: "The Sphere? Well, you know, I'm hoping, one of these days, to go there and sit and watch myself doing it, which is something I've always wanted to do. My avatar, you know? So I don't actually have to get up and do it." In 2024, the guitarist told the UK's Uncut magazine he'd be open to a virtual show like ABBA Voyage -- but only under very specific conditions. He said: "If someone came up with all the money and all the brilliant ideas -- and then once we've agreed to a series of very, very difficult and onerous conditions -- I'd say, 'Yeah, OK.'" Gilmour played 21 shows in support of his solo album Luck and Strange in 2024. - Music-News.com, 9/11/25...... Ozzy Osbourne's daughter Kelly Osbourne, a host of the Lego Masters Jr. series, brought in a real ringer to do the honors on the Sept. 8 episode. "Hi Kelly," Ozzy says to his daughter in a clip filmed before his July 22 passing at age 76, beaming into the show remotely while seated in a brown leather chair in a clip posted by Reality Club Fox. One of the young builders was confused, asking, "what? what is that?," as his knowing mom explained, "it's her dad." "Hi dad, we need someone to scare a few of the kids," Kelly told Ozzy. "Would you mind?" Always up for a good scare, Ozzy mischievously grinned, "I'd love to!," busting out a maniacal laugh as he rubbed his hands together. As the buzzing alert bathed the brick floor in a blood red light, Ozzy intoned, "You've got one hour left to finish those builds!," wagging his finger ominously as he added, "Or else!" and a demonic laugh. The kids were appropriately freaked out as Kelly said, "Thank you, daddy. That was perfect. We love you." Ozzy's sweet Lego pop-in is the first in what will be a string of posthumous projects from the late metal icon, including the 100-minute Back to the Beginning: Ozzy's Final Bow documentary about the last concert due in theaters in early 2026. There will also be a feature-length doc covering Ozzy's six-year struggle to recuperate from a devastating 2019 fall, Ozzy Osbourne: No Escape From Now, slated to debut on Paramount+ later this year. First up, though, is the rocker's second memoir, Last Rites, which will drop on Oct. 7 through Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group. - Billboard, 9/11/25...... In related news, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were among those paying tribute to Ozzy during the Sept. 7 telecast of the 2025 MTV VMA awards show. English singer/songwriter/actor Yungblud kicked things off the tribute performance with a cover of Ozzy's solo hit "Crazy Train," with Tyler and Perry later joining Yungblud for a rendition of "Mama, I'm Coming Home." Yungblud was a part of the 'Back To The Beginning' Black Sabbath farewell show in Birmingham in July, an event that took on extra poignancy when Osbourne died less than three weeks later. The full performance can be viewed on X/Twitter. - NME, 9/8/25...... The Who frontman Roger Daltrey will be joining the 30th anniversary edition of the Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp, which since 1996 has brought together aspiring musicians of all levels with rock legends for mentorship, jam sessions and live performances. The camp, which will take place Jan. 29-Feb. 1, 2026, will also include The Who's Simon Townshend, son of Who guitarist Pete Townshend. Daltrey has joined the camp six times previously, but not for the last 15 years. "It's an honor to celebrate 30 years of Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp with Roger Daltrey," says David Fishof, founder of the camp. "This camp is about inspiring musicians and giving fans an opportunity to share the stage with their heroes. To have members of The Who join us for this milestone makes it truly historic." Attendees will perform with Daltrey and Simon Townshend, as well as perform two shows at local Miami venues, including The Funky Biscuit. Building up to the 30th anniversary in 2026 will be three camps later this year: Alice Cooper and Judas Priest's Rob Halford will headline two camps in Phoenix in November, while a December camp also in Miami will feature The Rascals' Felix Cavaliere, Grand Funk Railroad's Mark Farner, Chicago's Jason Scheff and Billy Joel's Liberty DeVitto. The Who are currently on its "The Song Is Over - North American Farewell Tour," which concludes Sept. 28 in Las Vegas. - Billboard, 9/9/25...... Stevie NicksStevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham have fuelled fresh speculation about reunion rumours after sharing yet another cryptic post on social media. Just weeks after confirming the rerelease of their 1973 album Buckingham Nicks, which was teased in a similar fashion, the former Fleetwood Mac bandmates shared a joint Instagram post on Sept. 5 featuring an old clip of the two onstage. In the video on Buckingham's Instagram page, Nicks sings the opening lyrics of their 1973 track 'Frozen Love': "You may not be as strong as me, and I may not care to teach you." She then trails off before laughing: "That's all I remember." The post was captioned: "We remember the rest now." If an official reunion were announced, it would also be the first time Nicks and Buckingham joined forces since Buckingham was fired from Fleetwood Mac in 2018. Buckingham and Nicks originally dated between 1972 and 1976 and would remain bandmates for over 40 years, though it was ultimately their acrimonious relationship that would lead to Buckingham's departure. - NME, 9/7/25...... Bruce Springsteen found himself mere feet away from US Pres. Donald Trump on Sept. 7 at the US Open tennis championship match at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, N.Y., the first time they have been at the same event since their public feud of recent months. The match was delayed by up to 45 minutes due to enhanced security checks because of the president's attendance. While neither man came face-to-face during the match between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, Trump appeared to be confronted by boos from the crowd when appearing publicly for the national anthem. The footage was censored on some television networks, but shared on X and other social media. Meanwhile, Springsteen gave a surprise performance at a 50th Anniversary Symposium of his iconic 1975 album Born To Run at Monmouth University's Pollack Theatre in West Long Branch, N.J. on Sept. 8. The event was sponsored by the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music, and brought together former and current bandmates, roadies, photographers, Columbia Records alumni and more, all of whom worked alongside the heartland rocker in the period he wrote Born To Run. The Boss was on hand throughout for on-stage panels and interviews, and there was a mystery slot in the day's schedule for a live performance, with the audience advised that everyone needed to be back at the theatre on time so they could lock up their phones in Yondr pouches before the afternoon's events. Much to the surprise of everyone in the theatre, the evening drew to a close with performances of "Thunder Road" and "Born To Run" that saw the Boss team up with E Street Band members past and present. The university marked the event with a post on Instagram the following day. - NME, 9/8/25...... On Sept. 11 a judge ruled that the four housekeepers suing Smokey Robinson for sexual assault can keep their anonymity, and they are free to move forward with their $50 million lawsuit against the Motown star using pseudonyms. Robinson had filed a motion asking the court to strike down the women's complaint and force them to refile using their real names, claiming the women waived their right to anonymity when they appeared at a press conference in May wearing masks and sunglasses. Their lawyers told reporters that the women were Latina and didn't step forward sooner in part due to concerns they might face "reprisals" related to their immigration status. The judge ruled that the women could proceed with pseudonyms, but reserved the right to change his mind as the case progresses. "This early in the case, I don't think their identities need to be revealed. Maybe later, but for now, you're not harmed. You know who they are," the judge said. The judge then set a trial date for Oct. 11, 2027, explaining that Robinson's advanced age, 85, gave him priority. Other new trials are currently being set three years in the future. Robinson is countersuing the "Jane Does" with a $500 million defamation and elder abuse suit. - Music-News.com, 9/11/25...... Actor Edward Faulkner, who appeared in six films with John Wayne and two with Elvis Presley, died on Aug. 26 at a health care facility in Vista, Calif. He was 93. Mr. Faulkner, who appeared in Wayne films including McLintock!, Rio Lobo and The Green Berets and with Presley as a dude ranch manager in 1965's Tickle Me as well as an uncredited role in 1960's G.I. Blues, was a 6' 3" Kentucky native born on Leap Day in 1932. He attended the University of Virginia and the University of Kentucky, where he acted in plays before graduating in 1954. He then joined the U.S. Air Force, where he was a fighter pilot for two years, until deciding to move to Los Angeles to pursue acting in 1958. Faulkner was eventually introduced to director Andrew V. McLaglen, who cast him in the John Wayne films. Mr. Faulkner is survived by four children and five grandchildren. His wife, whom he met in high school, died in May 2013. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/8/25...... Polly HollidayActress Polly Holliday, best known for playing the gum-smacking waitress Flo who popularized the phrase "Kiss my grits!" on the long-running CBS sitcom Alice, died at her home in Manhattan on Sept. 9. She was 88. Ms. Holliday was a supporting player on Alice, which starred Linda Lavin as a widowed Mel's Diner waitress, but her performance as the redhead Florence Jean Castleberry was one the brightest, funniest turns on the series. Featuring in the show's first four seasons beginning in 1976, she was nominated for three Emmy awards and twice won the Golden Globe for best supporting actress in a television series. CBS then brought Mr. Holliday onto her own spinoff series, Flo, which followed the character as she returned to Texas to operate a saloon. The show lasted two seasons. But the theater was where Ms. Holliday's career began, and it was where she did some of her most celebrated work. She was nominated in best featured actress at the 1990 Tony Awards for her performance in a revival of Tennessee Williams's "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," starring opposite Charles Durning. On film, she played one of the most memorable death scenes of the 1980's featuring in director Joe Dante's suburban satire Gremlins, playing the wicked Mrs. Deagle, who is killed by the eponymous critters after they slingshot her out of her manor's window using a stairlift. Born July 2, 1937 in Jasper, Ala., Ms. Holliday ventured into theater productions while majoring in piano at Alabama College for Women. She joined the Asolo Repertory Theater in Sarasota in 1962, while she was attending Florida Sate University for music education. After nearly 10 years with the company, she moved to New York, making her Broadway debut in 1974 in the Murray Schisgal comedy "All Over Town," directed by Dustin Hoffman. Years later, Hoffman would seek Holliday's consultation in developing his performance for Sydney Pollack's Tootsie, in which he plays a washed-up actor that saves his career by posing under the alter ego of Dorothy Michaels, a feisty but fair Southern soap opera star. Other notable credits include All the President's Men, Mrs. Doubtfire and The Parent Trap, with TV roles as Tim Allen's mother-in-law on Home Improvement and appearances on Homicide: Life on the Streets, The Golden Girls and Amazing Stories. Her last film credit was in 2010 with Doug Liman's political thriller Fair Game. She left no immediate survivors. - Variety, 9/11/25...... Rick DaviesRick Davies, a founding member and singer/keyboardist for prog rock group Supertramp, died on Sept. 6 at his Long Island, N.Y. home after a long illness. He was 81. The passing of the writer and voice of such indelible hits as "Goodbye Stranger" and "Bloody Well Right" was confirmed by the group in a statement honoring his half century of service in the group. "The Supertramp Partnership is very sad to announce the death of Supertramp founder Rick Davies after a long illness," the band wrote in a statement on Facebook that said Davies had been sick with the blood cancer multiple myeloma for more than a decade. "We had the privilege of knowing him, and playing with him for over 50 years. We offer our sincere condolences to Sue Davies." The statement continued, "As co-writer, along with partner Roger Hodgson, he was the voice and pianist behind Supertramp's most iconic songs, leaving an indelible mark on rock music history. His soulful vocals and unmistakable touch on the Wurlitzer became the heartbeat of the bands' sound. Beyond the stage, Rick was known for his warmth, resilience, and devotion to his wife Sue, with whom he shared over five decades. After facing serious health challenges, which kept him unable to continue touring as Supertramp, he enjoyed performing with his hometown buds as Ricky and the Rockets." Born in Swindon, England on July 22, 1944, Mr. Davies was first attracted to music after his parents gave him a record player and he became obsessed with the album Drummin' Man by legendary jazz drummer Gene Krupa. After playing with a series of bands in high school and college, including Rick's Blues (with pop singer Gilbert O'Sullivan) and the Lonely Ones, Mr. Davies put an ad in Melody Maker magazine in 1969 looking for bandmates to join him, with vocalist Roger Hodgson signing on along with guitarist Richard Palmer and drummer Keith Baker. Taking a name inspired by Welsh author William Henry Davies' 1908 book The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp, the group signed to A&M Records, which released their self-titled debut album in 1970. After a few lineup changes, the prog rock group released 1971's Indelibly Stamped, with Davies handling lead vocals on most of the tracks as he and Hodgson shared songwriting duties. But it wasn't until 1974's Crime of the Century that the band had its first commercial breakthrough, with the album hitting No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart and Davies-penned single "Bloody Well Right" running up to No. 35 on the singles chart. After a misfire with the 1975 LP Crisis? What Crisis? featuring leftovers from the previous album, the band earned its first gold record in the U.S. with 1977's Even in the Quietest Moments which hit No. 16 on the LP chart and spawned the pop-leaning No. 15 hit "Give a Little Bit," with vocals by Hodgson. Further leaning into their pop proclivities, the band finally broke through with their landmark Grammy-nominated sixth album, Breakfast in America, which spun off a series of sing-along radio hits, including the No. 6 smash "The Logical Song," as well as "Take the Long Way Home" (No. 10) and the bouncy Davies-written "Goodbye Stranger" (No. 15). In keeping with previous releases, the songs included lead vocals by both men, with both also getting songwriting credits on the tunes. After a filler live album, 1980's Paris, Hodgson departed following 1982's Famous Last Words... after years of battles over the group's creative direction and songwriting royalties, leaving Davies as the lead man for 1985's Brother Where You Bound. That collection featured one of the group's final chart hits, the No. 28 "Cannonball," along with a meandering, ambitious 16-minute title track with guitar solo from Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. Supertramp's 1987 album Free as a Bird featured another left turn, this time into dancey synthesizer-fueled new wave tunes and marked their first LP not to make it into the top 100 on the Billboard album charts. The Davies-fronted group would release two more albums, 1997's Some Things Never Change and 2002 swan song, Slow Motion, and continue to tour until 2012. And while they announced a European tour in 2015, it was ultimately scotched due to Mr. Davies' treatment for multiple myeloma. - Billboard, 9/8/25.

KISS' Gene Simmons has spoken about his net worth and how much money he has made over the course of his career. The bassist and singer appeared on The HoneyDew podcast (available on YouTube), where he was asked about his relationship with money, how he manages it, and how music stardom impacted how he navigates his finances. "When somebody says I'm cheap, I say, 'Thank you. I'm smart, bitch. I'll see you at the end.' And revenge, for all the people that had something to say about you, the best revenge is to have them work for you. That's the best revenge. Keep your nose right on the grindstone. Work hard, work harder than your next-door neighbor. Amass your fortune, whatever that is. And living well is the best revenge." Simmons said that he taught his own children about the value of money and working hard for it, but nonetheless, he ensured that he had made enough money and had managed it well enough so that the next few generations of his family would be comfortable. He said, "I've got my finances in such order that the next two to three generations are taken care of. That's why you have to diversify So I'm in crypto, real estate, stocks, bonds, futures, commodities." - New Musical Express, 8/31/25...... Bruce SpringsteenAs the new Bruce Springsteen biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere recently had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, critics are largely praising the film which charts the period when he recorded his sixth studio album Nebraska. Deadline.com said that White is "utterly convincing on every count" and "gets to the essence of the man without copying him," further calling the transformation "nothing less than stunning." "[The film] is the real deal, an intelligent, deliberately paced journey into the soul of an artist," critic Peter Hammond added. The Bear star Jeremy Allen White, who portrays the musician, is being described as "simply awesome" by The Playlist, who described the film "as unorthodox a biopic as you can imagine for a major studio release in 2025, even if director Scott Cooper makes choices that hinder Nowhere from being a truly great film." The Hollywood Reporter suggested that Deliver was more for die-hard Springsteen fans, noting: "If you're looking to celebrate the anthemic hits of blue-collar New Jersey's favorite son, this highly personal movie might not meet your requirements. "But serious fans -- particularly those who admire the lo-fi 1982 album Nebraska -- should connect with the intimate drama." Springsteen, who attended the premiere and participated in a panel discussion at Telluride, touched on "what brought this one along," having presumably been approached about a biopic before. "I think we had a very specific idea -- Scott [Cooper] had a very specific idea, particularly, of what we were gonna attempt to do. And, for lack of a better word, it was an anti-biopic. "You know, it's really not a biopic," he said (via Variety). "It just takes a couple years out of my life when I was 31 and 32, and looks at them really at a time when I made this particular record, and when I went through some just difficult places in my life, you know. And, I'm old and I don't give a f--- what I do now." Meanwhile, the acclaimed Nebraska album is getting a deluxe reissue with previously unreleased material, a Blu-Ray of album performance film, and the legendary "Electric Nebraska" sessions. On Sept. 4, Springsteen's camp announced the upcoming release of Nebraska '82: Expanded Edition, a five-disc set that will feature many never-before-heard and previously undiscovered recordings from the rocker's sixth album, a lo-fi gem he recorded on a four-track recorder in a bedroom of his New Jersey home. Due out on Oct. 17 from Sony Music, the expanded edition will feature the legendary "Electric Nebraska" session -- featuring E Street Band members features bassist Garry Tallent, drummer Max Weinberg, keyboardist Danny Federici, pianist Roy Bittan and guitarist Stevie Van Zandt -- which features solo rarities, tracks from a one-off 1982 solo session and a previously unreleased, stripped-down version of the rock anthem "Born in the U.S.A." The reissue hits shelves one week before Deliver Me From Nowhere hits screens on Oct. 24. The "Electric Nebraska" version of "Born in the U.S.A." can be streamed on Spotify.com, and the official trailer for Deliver Me From Nowhere has been shared on YouTube. - NME, 9/1/25...... The reformed Sex Pistols with Frank Carter have been forced to postpone their North and South American tour due to guitarist Steve Jones breaking his wrist. The punk legends were due to kick off their dates with Carter on lead vocals in two weeks' time with a show in Dallas, Tex. Sept. 16, but the gigs will now be rescheduled to a future date. In an Instagram post on Sept. 2, the band wrote: "We have some unfortunate news to share about our upcoming North and South American performances." In a direct quote, Jones explained: "I've got some good news and bad news. What do you want first? Okay, the bad news: I've broken my wrist, so unfortunately we won't be doing any shows for a while. The good news is the surgeon said I will be back playing guitar in the not-too-distant future. The other good news is I'll be 70 tomorrow! God bless, and God save the wrist." The band continued: "The performances will be postponed and rescheduled when Steve has fully recovered. Please check local venue websites and our social media for more information. We appreciate your understanding and support." The shows were set to be this incarnation of the band's first ever stateside shows, and in announcing them in March, they shared a limited edition vinyl pressing of their 1978 performance in Dallas' Longhorn Ballroom, the site of the planned opening date of this tour. - NME, 9/2/25...... The recent earth-shattering news of the upcoming marriage of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce has prompted Foreigner to offer up their services in a rocking wedding reception. "Dear Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, we know what love is," Foreigner pitched on its foreignerlive Instagram page on Sept. 3. "We spent 40 years figuring it out and now you guys have too. Please accept this as our formal offer to be your wedding band. Best wishes, Foreigner." If the superstar couple do take Foreigner's offer up, likely songs will include "I Want To Know What Love Is," the lead single from the band's 1984 album Provocateur and their only No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The beloved ballad has been covered by everyone from Australian singer Tina Arena and country star Wynonna Judd to Mariah Carey, who released it as a single in 2009 from her Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel album. Other strong contenders include the 1988 ballad "I Don't Want To Live Without You," a No. 5 U.S. single that spent 11 weeks on the Top 40, and the band's first hit, "Feels Like The First Time," which climbed to No. 4 in Apr. 1977. - Billboard,...... Paul McCartney was among the slew of celebrities including Leo DiCaprio, Kristen Stewart, Vince Vaughn, Billie Eilish and Metallica's James Hefield spotted at the L.A. area stop on the reunion tour of alternative faves Oasis on Sept. 6. Sir Paul can be seen in clips on X/Twitter and other social media taking pictures while Oasis's Noel Gallagher sang "Little By Little," with many noting he was the only one in his section who stood up throughout. In a separate clip, fans approached him as he left the Rose Bowl venue and asked what he thought of the show, to which he replied: "Fabulous." In 2015, Gallagher joked that if Macca wrote their comeback single, he'd be willing to discuss a reunion. The same year, he walked back comments he made to MTV, where he said Oasis were "bigger than The Beatles," which McCartney said was the biggest mistake of their career. "I thought, 'So many people have said that, and it's the kiss of death,' he said at the time. "Be bigger than The Beatles, but don't say it. The minute you say it, everything you do from then on is going to be looked at in the light of that statement." In other McCartney news, the story of the famous Beatle's long-lost bass guitar is set to be told in an upcoming documentary. Variety.com is reporting that the story of the bass' decades-long journey back to Macca is due to be told through an upcoming feature-length documentary directed by Arthur Cary (Surviving 9/11, The Last Survivors). McCartney himself has been confirmed to be part of the documentary, which is titled The Beatle and the Bass, and has filmed interviews for the feature. His Hofner 500/1 Violin Bass, the first bass the star ever bought, was purchased for £30 ($38) in Hamburg, Germany. McCartney and longtime fans of the Beatles had attempted numerous times to recover the instrument, stolen from him in 1972, over the course of its 50-plus year absence -- including the Lost Bass campaign, which began in 2018 but only began to make progress in 2023. "I think anything that's nicked, you want back, especially if it has sentimental value. It just went off into the universe and it left us thinking, where did it go? There must be an answer," he told Variety. The documentary -- which will explore the mystery behind its theft and eventual return -- will also include exclusive interviews with people with a personal connection to the historic bass guitar and McCartney. Among the people set to appear in the documentary are Paul's brother Mike, their friend Klaus Voormann who witnessed the birth of the Beatles, Elvis Costello, journalists and fans who led the Loss Bass recovery project. In 2024, the instrument was finally returned to Paul. It is the same one that can be heard on classic hits including "Love Me Do," "She Loves You" and "Twist and Shout." Following the bass' recovery last year, the following statement was issued on McCartney's website: "Following the launch of [2023's] Lost Bass project, Paul's 1961 Hofner 500/1 bass guitar, which was stolen in 1972, has been returned. The guitar has been authenticated by Hofner and Paul is incredibly grateful to all those involved." - NME, 9/7/25...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, an unreleased, newly restored video of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1970 hit "Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)" has been released. The newly remixed version features in a new box set called Power To The People, due for release on Oct. 10, which explores the pair's NYC era and political activism through unreleased demos, home recordings, jam sessions, live cuts, unique mixes and more. The restored recording of "Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)" is taken from the afternoon performance of the pair's "One To One" concerts held at New York City's Madison Square Garden. These were Lennon's only full-length shows after leaving the Beatles, and also the last gigs John and Yoko ever performed together before his death. The newly restored "Instant Karma!" can be viewed on YouTube. - NME, 8/30/25...... David BowieThe BBC reported on Sept. 5 that David Bowie was working on an "18th century" themed musical at the time of his death in 2016 that will go on display in a new London centre dedicated to the rock icon. The V&A museum will open the free-to-access home for Bowie's vast archive in Stratford, east London, on Sept. 13. One exhibit will be notes from a previously unknown project called "The Spectator," which he described as an "18th Century musical." The walls of a locked room in Bowie's New York office were adorned with post-it notes for the project when he died in 2016, and were left unseen until his belongings were archived. Now the notes will be available to view at the centre, which will also host guest-curated displays, notably from disco pioneer and super-producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, who collaborated with Bowie on his Let's Dance album. Rodgers' selections include a suit, made by opera costume designer Peter Hall, worn during Bowie's "Serious Moonlight" tour, and rare photographs and personal correspondence reflecting their shared "love of the music that had both made and saved our lives." The centre has over 90,000 items tracing Bowie's career, with visitors able to explore a trove of 414 costumes and accessories, nearly 150 musical instruments, extensive notes, diaries, lyrics, and unrealised projects. Bowie died of liver cancer two days after the release of his 25th studio album, Blackstar, which had come out on his 69th birthday. - AFP, 9/5/25...... 1960s hitmaker Lulu has shed light on her battle with alcoholism after becoming a "secret drinker" later in life. Lulu, 76, recently told The London Times that she had become increasingly dependent on wine after hitting menopause, which came at a fraught time for her as she had lost her parents and her children had just left home. Lulu, whose father was an alcoholic, described struggles with alcohol as a "family illness" and said "the gene is there," although she said nobody noticed the degree to which wine had become part of her life. She said she was only able to mentally accept the extent of her dependence in 2013, on her 65th birthday. Lulu entered rehab and has since launched Lulu's Mental Health Trust, saying: "I probably have never been happier in my life, and at the same time, never been more in touch with my feelings." Lulu said she was inspired to set up the fund when she was writing her memoir and celebrating the 60th anniversary of her hit single "Shout." It follows the "To Sir, With Love" singer's 2024 announcement that she was retiring from touring after 60 years in music, with her final tour culminating in a Glastonbury festival performance last summer. - NME, 9/6/25...... A lawyer representing Sting has hit back after the ex-The Police frontman was sued by his former bandmates over lost royalties. Sting, also the primary songwriter of the London trio (real name Gordon Sumner) is being taken to court for "substantial" damages by guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland. It follows years of legal disputes between the group, whose hits include the best-selling single of 1983, "Every Breath You Take." Sting, who is credited as the sole songwriter on the track, reportedly earns £550,000 a year in royalties from that song alone. The case is said to have been listed at London's High Court under "general commercial contracts and arrangements," with Sting appearing as a defendant along with his company, Magnetic Publishing Limited. While the artist himself is yet to respond to the lawsuit directly, his lawyer claimed that Summers and Copeland have actually been "substantially overpaid." According to a New York Times report, Sting came up with an agreement with his two bandmates when they formed The Police in 1977, wherein he allegedly promised Summers and Copeland 15% of "some royalties" from the songs that Sting wrote by himself, and that was intended to "keep things sweet" within the band. Sting is the sole credited writer of most of the band's most enduring hits, and Summers and Copeland argue that Sting now owes them "arranger's fees" from the "digital exploitation" of the Police's music. Sting said in 2021 that he regretted reforming the trio in 2007, calling the tour that followed "an exercise in nostalgia." He explained at the time that he preferred being a solo artist due to the "total freedom" it offered. - NME, 9/6/25...... Bob DylanGossip over Bob Dylan's "love child" has reignited with the publication of a new book by author Sam Sussman. Sussman has speculated the rock icon may be his biological father -- and his new novel, Boy from the North Country, features a lead character with the same question about his paternity. According to a synopsis from the book's publisher, Penguin Random House, the tome is about a young man's mother sharing a "creatively intense, emotionally turbulent romance with Bob Dylan." The woman's son, Evan, grows up to obsess over the rock bard, "whom strangers have long insisted he resembles." In a case of art imitating life, Sussman, 34, has previously written extensively about his mother's affair with the gravel-voiced musician as well as his alleged physical resemblance to Bob, which he claimed people had often pointed out to him. "At first it was thrilling," he told The Independent in a recent interview. "Who doesn't want to be told they look like a cultural icon?" After his mother revealed she had in fact "dated" Bob in the 1970s and had reunited with him nine months before Sam was born, the novelist felt too uncomfortable to mention the subject. "I just didn't want to have that conversation with people any more," he explained. A representative for Bob, 84, told the Daily Mail the singer had no comment, as was the case in 2021 when Sussman first published an essay in Harper's magazine about the imagined paternity. - Music-News.com, 9/5/25......Michael Jackson's daughter Paris Jackson is making it clear that she has "zero per cent involvement" in the upcoming biopic of the King of Pop. On Sept. 3, Paris took to X/Twitter to publicly decry claims from actor Colman Domingo, who portrays Michael's father Joe Jackson in the film, that Paris and her brother Prince Jackson were "very much in support" of the film, and they had "chatted briefly" about the project and she was "very helpful." In a string of now-expired Instagram Stories, Paris wrote, tagging Domingo: "Don't be telling people I was "helpful" on the set of a movie I had 0% involvement in lol that is so weird." She continued: "I read one of the first drafts of the script and gave my notes about what was dishonest/didn't sit right with me and when they didn't address it I moved on with my life. Not my monkeys, not my circus. God bless and God speed." She later posted a separate video in which she said: "The film panders to a very specific section of my dad's fandom and they're going to be very happy with that... the thing about these biopics are... it's Hollywood. It's fantasyland, it's not real but it's sold to you as real. A lot of sugarcoated... the narrative is being controlled. There is a lot of inaccuracy and a lot of full-blown lies." In January, it was reported that the film's production had hit a major speed bump, and was being forced to reshoot its entire third act, which is said to depict sexual abuse allegations that the singer's estate has banned from being dramatized. - NME, 9/4/25...... Ozzy Osbourne's son Jack Osbourne has lashed out at ex-Pink Floyd member Roger Waters over comments Waters recently made about Jack's dad. The oft-controversial Waters recently spoke to The Independent Ink on a myriad of topics, including how figures in pop culture are used to distract people from political issues: "How can we push this to one side? I know how to do it! We'll do it with Taylor Swift or bubble gum or Kim Kardashian's bum." He then turned his attention to singling out the recently deceased Ozzy: "Ozzy Osbourne, who just died, bless him in his whatever state that he was in his whole life, we'll never know. Although he was all over the TV for hundreds of years, with his idiocy and nonsense. The music, I have no idea. I couldn't give a f----." Waters went on: "I don't care about Black Sabbath, I never did. I have no interest in biting the heads of chickens or whatever they do. I couldn't care less, you know." On Sept. 2, Jack took to Facebook to defend his late father's honour, writing in a scathing post: "Hey Roger Waters, f--- you. How pathetic and out of touch you've become. The only way you seem to get attention these days is by vomiting out bullshit in the press. My father always thought you were a c*nt - thanks for proving him right." - NME, 9/3/25...... '70s stars Cher and Joni Mitchell recently joined '80s singer Cyndi Lauper onstage during the final show of her farewell tour at L.A.'s Hollywood Bowl on Aug. 30. Mitchell joined the pop musician for a rendition of "Carey," marking Mitchell's second public appearance in 2025. Later, John Legend came on stage to duet "Time After Time." The encore featured SZA, who joined Lauper for "True Colours." It ended with Cher surprising the attendees by joining Cyndi for a duet of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." Earlier in 2025, Lauper announced that she would wrap up the final leg of her North American "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"' farewell tour with two shows at the Hollywood Bowl on Aug. 29 and 30. - NME, 8/31/25...... Giorgio Armani, the visionary designer who transformed global fashion with his understated elegance and business savvy, died on Sept. 4. He was 91. Widely regarded as the architect of modern Italian style, Mr. Armani built a fashion empire that spanned decades and redefined luxury with his signature unstructured tailoring and meticulous attention to detail. The designer is credited over his decades of practice with curating a quintessentially Italian aesthetic in his clothes, as well as taking Hollywood's red carpets to new heights. Mr. Armani and his life and business partner, Sergio Galeotti, founded the brand Giorgio Armani in 1975. Their first menswear collection found success in the US: It was stocked at Barney's New York in 1976, and the department store even produced a TV commercial introducing Armani to American shoppers. It was soon followed by a womenswear collection, which saw the brand debuting an androgynous look. ("I was the first to soften the image of men, and harden the image of women," Mr. Armani later said.) His jackets earned the attention of Hollywood. In 1980, Richard Gere famously wore an Armani suit in "American Gigolo," turning it into a status symbol. Soon, dressing stars for the red carpet became another form of advertising for the brand. Many of the biggest celebrities of the day -- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sophia Loren, Jodie Foster, Sean Connery and Tina Turner, among others -- were all pictured wearing its creations. This led to a fierce competition with the other big name of 1980s Italian fashion, Gianni Versace, whose dazzling style stood in stark contrast to Mr. Armani's typically understated looks. Mr. Armani's many accolades include being named a Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2021, one of the country's highest honors, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America. He was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, in 2002. Mr. Armani remained heavily involved with the Giorgio Armani brand until the very end, remotely organizing 50th-anniversary celebrations that will take place at Milan fashion week in late September, and an exhibition at the Pinacoteca di Brera, while recovering at home from illness. - CNN, 9/4/25...... Giorgio Armani and Mark VolmanMark Volman, a founding member of the '60s pop-rock group The Turtles and later the duo Flo + Eddie, passed away on Sept. 5 following a "brief, unexpected illness," his lawyer Evan Cohen confirmed in a statement on Facebook. He was 78. "I am sorry to report that my long-time friend and client, Mark Volman of The Turtles and Flo & Eddie (and a couple of years in the Mothers of Invention), has died at the age of 78," Cohen wrote. "Mark and bandmate Howard Kaylan stepped up and set an example for decades, standing up for the rights of musicians in various legal actions, which had a great impact on the progression of the law in several different areas (including sampling, and the eventual protection of 60s recordings under the Music Modernization Act)." In 2020, Volman confirmed in an interview with People that he had been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, and opened up about how he was living with the disease. "I got hit by the knowledge that this was going to create a whole new part of my life," he said at the time. "And I said, 'OK, whatever's going to happen will happen, but I'll go as far as I can.'" Alongside fellow band founder Kaylan, Volman helped lead The Turtles through a prosperous career in the late 1960s, where the band released a number of hits. Over the course of the band's career, they notched 17 career entries on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned five top 10 hits. "Happy Together," widely considered to be the band's signature song, was their sole No. 1 hit on the chart, spending three weeks at the summit in 1967. The band famously earned their first chart entry with a cover of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe," which also went on to be their first top 10 hit after it peaked at No. 8 on the chart in 1965. "Happy Together" was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007. The band's other top 10 hits on the Hot 100 were "She'd Rather Be With Me," "Elenore" and "You Showed Me." The group reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart in Feb. 1968 with The Turtles! Golden Hits. Volman began his career when he was in high school in 1963, when he joined classmate Howard Kaylan's band The Crossfires, who were ultimately renamed The Turtles and had their first Top 10 hit in 1965 with a cover of Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe. The band split in 1970 but Volman continued to work with Kaylan as the duo Flo + Eddie, touring with Frank Zappa and his band Mothers of Invention and singing backing vocals for artists including Bruce Springsteen, Duran Duran and T. Rex. In his 40s, the singer received his master's in screenwriting and went on to teach music at Belmont University in Nashville. Despite the symptoms of his condition, including tremors and hallucinations, Volman continued to perform on the annual "Happy Together Music Tour" that he and The Turtles -- without Kaylan, who stopped performing due to health issues -- headlined. He is survived by daughters Sarina and Hallie, ex-wifes Patricia -- the mother of his kids -- and Emily Volman, and his brother Phil Volman. - Billboard/Music-News.com, 9/5/25.